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The role of Blastocystis sp. and Dientamoeba fragilis in irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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An Erratum to this article was published on 18 July 2017

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Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is globally one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal disorders with a negative impact on quality of life and socio-economic status of patients. Recently, controversial evidences suggest that Blastocystis sp. and Dientamoeba fragilis infections may be implicated in the development of IBS. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the possible association regarding this issue. PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane electronic databases were searched (up to February 2017) to identify the relevant studies. Pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using a random effects meta-analysis model on data from included studies. A total of 17 studies including 5882 participants (2527 patients and 3310 controls) met the eligibility criteria. Individuals with Blastocystis infection were found to have a positive association with IBS (OR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.54–3.13), while this association was not observed for D. fragilis infection (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.22–5.72). In subgroup analysis for Blastocystis infection, the pooled ORs were OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.55–3.41; OR 1.70, 95% CI 0.83–3.44; and OR 3.83, 95% CI 2.34–6.27 for hospital-based, healthy volunteers, and combined controls, respectively. Considering the subtypes, meta-analysis result demonstrated significant positive ORs for ST1 (OR, 4.40; 95% CI, 2.81–6.90) and ST3 (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.36–2.77) to be potential risk factors for IBS. Our results support the existence of a positive association between Blastocystis sp. and IBS. Further studies with more sample size should be performed to better investigate the real impact of these parasites on the occurrence of IBS.

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  • 18 July 2017

    An erratum to this article has been published.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Hamed Behniafar for his assistance during the preparation of this manuscript. This work was supported by the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran under grant number 13/1403-6443.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

    Ali Rostami

  2. Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Rostami, Ali Haghighi, Vafa Saber & Seyyed Javad Seyyedtabaei

  3. Faculty of Health, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

    Seyed Mohammad Riahi

  4. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Mohammad Riahi

  5. Psychosis Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Bahram Armon

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Contributions

A.R., S.M.R., A.H., B.A., and S.J.S. conceived the study. A.R. B.A. and S.J.S. collected all data. A.R., S.M.R., and V.S. analyzed and interpreted the data. A.R. and A.H. drafted the manuscript. All authors commented on the drafts of the manuscript and approved the final copy of the paper.

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Correspondence to Ali Rostami.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

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This study received the approval from the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science Ethical Committee.

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An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5556-1.

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Rostami, A., Riahi, S.M., Haghighi, A. et al. The role of Blastocystis sp. and Dientamoeba fragilis in irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Parasitol Res 116, 2361–2371 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5535-6

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