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Burden of intestinal parasitic infections among pregnant women in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Background

Comprehensive nationwide data on prevalence and distribution of intestinal parasites (IPIs) among pregnant women are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide pooled prevalence estimate, prevalence in different regions and species-specific IPIs among pregnant women in Ethiopia.

Methods

The search was carried out in Medline via PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science and Google Scholar on published and unpublished data between 2008 and Sep 2020 for studies describing rate of IPIs among pregnant women in Ethiopian. A random-effects model and forest plots to estimate pooled effect size and effect of each study with their confidence interval (CI) were used to provide a visual summary of the data. We conducted meta-regression to understand the source of heterogeneity and pooled the prevalence using ‘metaprop’ command using STATA software version 14.

Results

A total of 3149 of the 9803 pregnant women were infected with one or more species of IPIs resulted in an overall prevalence of 29% (95% CI 22–37%). The prevalence estimate varied among studies with considerable heterogeneity (χ2 = 2069.19, p < 0.001 I2 = 98.84). The prevalence of IPIs was 36% (95% CI 22–50%) in Oromia region, 29% (95% CI 10–47%) in Amhara region, 24% (95% CI 17–32%) in southern nation, nationality and people region, 24% (95% CI 22–27%) in Tigray region and 24% (95% CI 20–29%) in Addis Ababa city. Hookworms with pooled prevalence estimate of 10% (95% CI 8–13%) followed by Ascaris lumbricoides 10% (95% CI 7–13%), and Entamoeba histolytica/dispar 6% (95% CI 4–8%) were the three common species of IPIs identified in this group of population.

Conclusion

The prevalence of IPIs among pregnant women is relatively high in comparison to other general population. Hookworms and Ascaris lumbricoides were the most dominant species of intestinal helminths, whereas Entamoeba histolytica/dispar was the dominant intestinal protozoa among pregnant women in Ethiopia.

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Availability of data and materials

The data sets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

NTD:

Neglected tropical disease

IPI:

Intestinal parasite infection

CI:

Confidence interval

PRISMA:

Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Legese Chelkeba

  2. School of Pharmacy, Institute of Health, Jimma University, P.O. Box: 378, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Tsegaye Melaku

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College Health Sciences, Ambo University, Ambo, Ethiopia

    Dereje Lemma

  4. School of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Zeleke Mekonnen

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  1. Legese Chelkeba
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  2. Tsegaye Melaku
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  4. Zeleke Mekonnen
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All authors critically reviewed, provided substantive feedback and contributed to the intellectual content of this paper and made substantial contributions to the conception, conceptualization and manuscript preparation of this systematic review. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tsegaye Melaku.

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Chelkeba, L., Melaku, T., Lemma, D. et al. Burden of intestinal parasitic infections among pregnant women in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Infection 49, 1091–1105 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-021-01635-4

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