Rotavirus Infection in Children with Acute Gastroenteritis in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND
The recent studies show that Rotavirus is important cause of the acute gastroenteritis. The aim of this review is to estimate the number of Rotavirus infection among Iranian children by performing a systematic review and estimating a pooled data.


METHODS
We performed a systematic literature review in relevant databases including PUBMED, MEDLINE, OVID, SID, MAGIRAN, and IRANMEDEX. Search in databases was done in October 10, 2013. Meta-analysis was performed using the STATA statistical package version 11. We assessed heterogeneity by Q-test and used random model for pooling measures of proportion of Rotavirus infection among Iranian children with diarrhea (and 95% confidence intervals [CI]). Sub group analysis between in-patient and outpatient group were done and publication bias was assessed by Egger and Begg tests.


RESULTS
A total of 154 records were identified in our searching. There were 36 studies including a total of 15,368 children with diarrhea. Out of 15,368 children, 6,338 were positive for Rotavirus gastroenteritis. Overall pooled estimate of infection with Rotavirus among cases of gastroenteritis was 0.35 (95% CI, 0.28-0.41). Pooled estimates for hospitalized children and outpatient subgroups were 0.39 (95% CI, 0.30-0.48), and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23-0.38), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
This study supports the importance of Rotavirus in the Iranian population such as common cause of diarrhea among children. Therefore, decision to adopt immunization programs to prevent Rotavirus infection might be helpful in Iran.
Department of Community Medicine, Gastro-Intestinal and Liver Disease Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Maziar
M
Moradi-Lakeh
Department of Educational Management, Economics and policy, School of Medical Education, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Tehran, Iran.
Sareh
S
Shakerian
Department of Community Medicine, Clinical Knowledge Management Unit, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohsen
M
Yaghoubi
Department of Pediatrics, Akbarabadi Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abdoulreza
A
Esteghamati
Cochrane Schizophrenia Group, Institute of Mental Health, A Partnership Between The University of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, UK.
Frahad
F
Shokraneh
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Science, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Hamid-Reza
HR
Baradaran
Pediatric Infections Research Center, Mofid Children Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Roxana Mansour
RM
Ghanaee
Acute gastroenteritis; Rotavirus infection; and diarrhea; children