title: The Prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria in Iranian Pregnant Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is defined as the presence of bacteria in urine without having signs and symptoms. The aim of this meta-analysis was to estimate the overall prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria among Iranian pregnant women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Major national and international databases were searched up to November 2015, including Scientific Information Database, MagIran, Web of Science, Medline, Scopus, Science Direct and Ovid. The checklist of the STROBE statement was used for evaluating the quality of reporting. The extracted data were analyzed and the results were reported using a random-effects model with 95% confidence interval (CI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 3709 obtained studies, 20 included in the meta-analysis, which involved 15108 pregnant women. The overall prevalence of ASB was 0.13 (95% CI: 0.09, 0.17). The prevalence of ASB in the northern and southern regions of Iran was 0.13 (95% CI: 0.09, 0.18) and 0.11 (95% CI: 0.05, 0.16), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence of ASB among Iranian pregnant women is considerable. Due to the complications of ASB for pregnant women and their children, preventative planning and control of ASB among pregnant women in Iran is necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghafari
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Vali
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baigi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheraghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0623-7503
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doosti-Irani