Health and Environmental Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
Department of Vector Biology and Control, Faculty of Health, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
J Med Entomol. 2022 Nov 16;59(6):1861-1879. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjac117.
In this study, a systematic investigation was performed to estimate the prevalence of head lice infestation, and to determine the factors affecting the prevalence of heterogeneity among primary school-aged children in Iran. A comprehensive search was fulfilled in international databases, including MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase, to identify the articles on the prevalence of pediculosis. So, all the cross-sectional epidemiological studies evaluating the prevalence of pediculosis were covered without any restrictions. A random-effects model was used to assess the pooled prevalence. A meta-regression method was applied to determine the factors affecting the heterogeneity among the studied population. An analysis was performed on 67 studies with a total sample size of 358,053. The total pooled estimate for the prevalence of pediculosis in boys and girls was 7.52% (95% CI: 6.15-9.03), 1.99% (95% CI: 1.25-2.89), and 8.97% (95% CI: 721-10.91), respectively. The highest and lowest pooled prevalence was in Hormozgan (southern Iran) (29.21%; 95% CI: 8.89-55.34) and Isfahan (Central Iran) (0.69%; 95% CI: 0.59-0.80), respectively. Based on the results of the univariate meta-regression, gender and father's job showed a significant direct association with the prevalence of pediculosis, but the sample size had significant inverse relations with the prevalence of pediculosis. This study demonstrated that pediculosis is a common public health problem affecting school-aged children with a relatively high prevalence in Iran, especially among girls.
在这项研究中，我们进行了一项系统调查，以估计头虱感染的流行率，并确定影响伊朗小学生头虱感染异质性的因素。我们在国际数据库中进行了全面搜索，包括 MEDLINE、Scopus、Web of Science 和 Embase，以确定有关头虱病流行率的文章。因此，我们涵盖了所有评估头虱病流行率的横断面流行病学研究，没有任何限制。我们使用随机效应模型评估汇总流行率。我们应用荟萃回归方法确定影响研究人群异质性的因素。我们对 67 项研究进行了分析，总样本量为 358053 人。男孩和女孩头虱病总合并流行率估计值分别为 7.52%（95%CI：6.15-9.03）、1.99%（95%CI：1.25-2.89）和 8.97%（95%CI：721-10.91）。头虱病总合并流行率最高和最低的分别是霍尔木兹甘（伊朗南部）（29.21%；95%CI：8.89-55.34）和伊斯法罕（伊朗中部）（0.69%；95%CI：0.59-0.80）。基于单变量荟萃回归的结果，性别和父亲的职业与头虱病的流行率呈显著正相关，但样本量与头虱病的流行率呈显著负相关。这项研究表明，头虱病是一个普遍存在的公共卫生问题，影响着伊朗的学龄儿童，尤其是女孩，其流行率相对较高。
