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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Aug 21:2021:6671870.
doi: 10.1155/2021/6671870. eCollection 2021.

The Prevalence of Asthma among Iranian Children and Adolescent: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Neda Rahimian  1 , Mohammad Aghajanpour  2 , Leila Jouybari  3 , Pedram Ataee  4 , Asadollah Fathollahpour  5 , Nasrin Lamuch-Deli  6 , Wesam Kooti  7 , Rasoul Nasiri Kalmarzi  7
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The Prevalence of Asthma among Iranian Children and Adolescent: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Neda Rahimian et al. Oxid Med Cell Longev. .

Abstract

Background: Asthma is an important reason for hospitalization in children aged under five years. Information about the current status of asthma in Iranian children can help the Iranian health sector plan carefully and prevent asthma incidence by educating the families. The present systematic review and meta-analysis is aimed at estimating asthma prevalence in Iranian children and adolescents.

Method: Data were found using keywords such as prevalence, epidemiology, asthma, adolescent, children, pediatrics, Iran in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases. Three national databases, including Magiran, Barakat Pharmed Co (Iran medex), and Scientific Information Databank (SID) were searched until 1 October 2020. Cross-sectional and original studies were included in the study, and then, quality assessment was done using the National Institutes of Health's Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. A pooled estimated prevalence of asthma was calculated using Der Simonian-Laird random model. Egger's test was used to evaluate publication bias. The data were analyzed using the STATA software version 16.

Results: 30 studies were selected and investigated. The prevalence of asthma in children and adolescents was 6% and 8%, and the prevalence in boys and girls was 9% and 8%, respectively. Among the asthma symptoms, wheezing had the most prevalence (17% in children and 19% in adolescents) and sleep disturbance had the lowest prevalence (6% in children and 6% in adolescents).

Conclusion: The prevalence of asthma in Iranian children and adolescents is lower than in the world. Existing strategies should be pursued followed. Also, guidelines for asthma control and prevention should be considered in the future.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart describing the study design process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of asthma in Iranian children (0-10).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of asthma in Iranian adolescent (11–19).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Publication bias in the studied researches (children and adolescent).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Metaregression for prevalence of asthma and years of studies (children and adolescent).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Metaregression for prevalence of asthma and sample size of studies (children and adolescent).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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