Prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Study

One of the increasing health problems worldwide is gestational diabetes or an increase in blood glucose levels during pregnancy without a history, which is associated with many maternal and fetal complications. Due to the presentation of different data from studies conducted in different parts of Iran on the prevalence of gestational diabetes, the present study was conducted to determine the overall prevalence of gestational diabetes in Iran by a systematic review and meta-analysis

This study is a review and meta-analysis conducted in Iran to determine the prevalence of diabetes by searching electronic databases, including the State Inpatient Databases, Mag Iran, and Google Scholar. After the qualitative evaluation of the extracted articles, 24 articles, which were conducted in Iran from 2004 to 2018, were included in the study. Data were analyzed by the Stochastic Effect method using the STATA software (version 17).

Out of 31 provinces in Iran, information on the prevalence of gestational diabetes was available only in 14 provinces. Out of 26,849 patients, the prevalence of diabetes in the whole country was 7.9%, with a 95% confidence interval (5.96-10.08) and I2=97.36%. The lowest prevalence was related to Ardabil province with a prevalence of 1.33%, and the highest prevalence was in Tehran and Mazandaran provinces at 23.99% and 23.13%, respectively.

The prevalence of gestational diabetes is high and varies across the whole country. It is necessary to conduct research in all provinces with the same screening method to identify the cause of differences in the prevalence of gestational diabetes in different provinces, adopt the best strategies and policies in the field of health, and reduce the complications, as well as the prevalence of gestational diabetes.