Pneumococcal meningitis in Iran: a systematic review and meta–analysis

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the frequency of pneumococcal meningitis among patients with bacterial meningitis in Iran. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scientific Information Database (www.sid.ir) were searched from 2000 to 2016 to identify studies on the frequency or prevalence of pneumococcal meningitis in Iran. Stata 14.0 (StataCorp, College Station, Texas, USA) was used to analyze the data. Results: Of the 131 records identified from the databases, 21 studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria. The analyses showed that 25.0% (95% CI: 19.0-32.0; I2=71%) of the confirmed bacterial meningitis (including children and adults) cases were caused by pneumococcus. Conclusions: The large fraction of meningitis cases caused by pneumococcus demonstrates that pneumococcal meningitis is a major public health problem in Iran, and the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines merits further attention from health authorities.

Keywords

• Streptococcus pneumoniae
• Meningitis
• Systematic review
• Meta-analysis
• Iran