Epidemiological Prevalence of Pediculosis and its Influencing Factors in Iranian Schools: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Introduction: Pediculosis is an endemic parasitic infestation in many countries of the world. Iran is one of the countries with a high rate of pediculosis. Aim: To investigate the prevalence and factors associated with pediculosis in primary school students of Iran.

Materials and Methods: The literature search was carried out by two researchers on national databases including: SID, Iranmedex, Magiran, Irandoc and international database including: Scopus, Pubmed and Web of Science to find relevant articles between 2000 and 2016. The search strategy was performed using keywords such as: “epidemiology”, “prevalence”, “infestation”, “head louse”, “head lice”, “Pediculus humans capitis”, “pediculosis”, “primary school students”, “primary students”, “school children”, and “Iran”, as well as their Farsi equivalents. In this study, a random effects model and a fixed effect model were used. To test heterogeneity, the Q-Cochran test was used at an error level of less than 10% and the quantity was estimated by I2 . The Begg Rank Correlation Test and Eggers Regression Method were used to measure the publication bias.

Results: The results showed that 428,993 students were studied in 55 papers between 2000 and 2016 and the prevalence of head louse (Pediculosis human capitis) was 6.4% (95% CI: 6-6.9). The prevalence of lice (pediculosis) infestation among girls was 6.1% (95% CI: 4.6-7.4) and in boys was 1.2% (95% CI: 0.8-1.7) and in rural areas prevalence was more than urban areas.

Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated a high incidence of pediculosis among rural school-girls. It is recommended that, creating awareness among this population is required, especially schools that do not have a health teacher. Large families, having low education among parents, must be educated about the condition and its prevention.