Prevalence of Gestational Diabetes in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background Pregnant women who have gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are more prone to adverse pregnancy outcomes. We estimated the prevalence of GDM in Iran. Methods Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Persian databases (SID, Magiran, Irandoc, and) were searched using the MeSH and non-MeSH terms in abstract, title, or keywords of articles until June 2021, with no limitation in time. Random effects models were applied to summarize the GDM prevalence in Iran. The obtained data were quantitatively analyzed to determine an effect size for each paper. The pooled effect size was introduced as prevalence and 95% confidence interval. Sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses were done to determine heterogeneity. Publication bias was assessed by the classic fail-safe N and Egger test. Results A total of 53 papers were considered for meta‐analysis, involving 56,521 Iranians. The total GDM prevalence in Iran was 7.6% (95% CI, 6.1%–9.4%). Conclusion This meta-analysis was the newest to estimate the GDM prevalence among Iranian women. Our results suggest a high prevalence of GDM in Iran, showing that Iran might have many GDM patients.