Objective: This systematic review aimed to evaluate the association between psychosocial factors at work and menstrual abnormalities or fertility by collecting the literature that had utilized a longitudinal or prospective cohort design. Data sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and Japan Medical Abstracts Society electronic databases were searched for published studies from inception to 26th February 2020. Study eligibility criteria: The inclusion criteria for this systematic review were defined as follows: (P) Adult female workers (over 18 years old), (E) Presence of adverse psychosocial factors at work, (C) Absence of adverse psychosocial factors at work, and (O) Any menstrual cycle disorders, menstrual-related symptoms, or fertility. The study design was limited to prospective/longitudinal studies. Study appraisal and synthesis methods: The included studies were descriptively summarized in a narrative format. Results: Database searching yielded 12,868 abstracts. After the screening process, six studies were included. The outcomes were fertility (n=3), early menopause (n=1), endometriosis (n=1), and serum hormones (n=1). Three included studies presented significant findings: women with high job demands were significantly less likely to conceive; working over 40 hours per week and lifting or moving a heavy load >15 times per day significantly increased the duration of pregnancy attempts; women with rotating night shift work had increased risk of earlier menopause. All the study (n=3) that examined the association of night shift/rotating work with fertility outcomes showed no significant difference. No study investigated the association of psychosocial factors at work with menstrual abnormality. Conclusion: This review revealed insufficient high-level evidence on the association of psychosocial factors at work with fertility and menstrual disorders. Future well-designed studies are needed. Trial registration: The study protocol was registered at the UMIN registry (registration number: UMIN000039488). The registration date is 14th Feb 2020. URL: https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-bin/ctr/ctr_view_reg.cgi?recptno=R000044704 Review protocol: Protocol paper is available in preprint format. URL:https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-179301/v1/48845b10-5ec4-4d48-8918-3dcf0e0edded.pdf?c=1631873381

The authors have declared no competing interest.

https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-bin/ctr/ctr_view_reg.cgi?recptno=R000044704

This study is supported by The University of Tokyo Occupational Mental Health (TOMH) Research Fund, obtained from the Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan. The sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.