A systematic review and meta-analysis on the global prevalence of helminthic parasites among schoolchildren: a public health concern

Abstract

Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are responsible for substantial illness and death worldwide. Helminthic infections among school-aged children pose a serious public health challenge due to their detrimental effects on health and development.

Methods: A wide-ranging search conducted across five databases, including Scopus, EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar to retrieve papers published between 1998 and 2024. To evaluate the combined prevalence, a random-effects model with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was applied, and the statistical analysis was performed using meta-analysis packages in R version (3.6.1).

Results: There were 190 eligible studies documented in 42 countries, and 199,988 schoolchildren included in this review. The global prevalence of helminthic parasites was 20.6% (17.2- 24.3%). Among the countries studied, Tanzania and Vietnam showed the highest levels of prevalence at 67.41% and 65.04%, respectively, with Toxocara spp. and Ascaris lumbricoides being the most prevalent helminthic parasites at 10.36% and 9.47%, respectively.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this study underscores the pressing public health concern of helminthic infections among schoolchildren, largely driven by inadequate sanitation and poor water quality. Prompt action, such as improving sanitation, expanding school-based deworming programs, and enhancing access to safe water, is crucial to control these infections and enhance overall health outcomes.

Keywords: Child health; Intestinal helminths; Schoolchildren; Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs); Systematic review.

Fig. 1

Flow diagram of the study design process

Fig. 2

Forest plots for random-effects meta-analysis of helminthic parasites among schoolchildren (The boxes indicate the effect size of the studies (prevalence) and the whiskers indicate its confidence interval for corresponding effect size. There is no specific difference between white and black bars, only studies with a very narrow confidence interval are shown in white. In the case of diamonds, their size indicates the size of the effect, and their length indicates confidence intervals)

Fig. 3

The global prevalence of helminthic parasites among schoolchildren in different geographical regions of the world based on included studies (https://qgis.org/en/site/) (a). Additionally, the Sankey plot presents data concerning the majority of studies related to countries and GBD Region based on the included studies (b)

Fig. 4

The global prevalence of helminthic parasites among schoolchildren in different geographical regions of the world based on annual rainfall and year of publication (the pink line is the regression line, which was plotted based on the intercept and the slope of the regression model). The different coloured bubbles represent the countries under study, and their sizes indicate the effect size of each study

Fig. 5

Eggers funnel plot (a) and Beggs plot (b) used to evaluate publication bias related to the global prevalence of helminthic parasites among schoolchildren according to the studies included; colored circles represent individual studies. The central line indicates the effect size, while the other two lines outline the corresponding confidence intervals. The Doi plot (c), which also reflects the publication bias, reveals a Luis Furuya-Kanamori (LFK) index of 2.71, indicating major asymmetry