Trichomonas vaginalis infection among Iranian general population of women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis) is one of the main causes of vaginitis, prostatitis, and cervicitis all over the world. Little information is available regarding the burden of T. vaginalis infection in Iranian women. This systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out to determine the prevalence of T. vaginalis among general population of Iranian women. Data were systematically collected from 1992 to 2012 in Iran on such electronic databases as PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Magiran, Irandoc, Iran medex, Scientific Information Database (SID), Global Health, and LILACS. Additionally, abstracts of national scientific congresses and dissertations were included. A total of 30 articles attempted to examine 70,373 individuals and reported the prevalence of trichomoniasis from different regions of Iran. The overall prevalence rate of trichomoniasis in Iran was estimated to be 8% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.07 to 0.09) with the maximum 38.8% (95% CI = 0.036 to 0.042) and the minimum 0.009% (95% CI = 0.008 to 0.010), respectively. Also, it was found that the prevalence in Central provinces is higher than other ones. In all studies, the average of age was 24.5 with the maximum and the minimum of 45 and 22.5 years old, respectively. The present review revealed that infection rate is relatively high among Iranian women, and risk factors such as hygienic situation, behavior and local culture, poor socioeconomic condition, feeble moral considerations, and increase in marriage age must be considered in the management of controlling programs.