Systematic Reviews Of Prevalence Research Articles

Prevalence of ophthalmological manifestations in pediatric and adolescent populations with Down syndrome: a systematic review of the literature

BackgroundDown syndrome (DS) is a chromosomal anomaly that is characterized by an extra chromosome 21. Ophthalmological manifestations have a high prevalence in patients with DS.PurposeTo review the scientific evidence and estimate the prevalence of ophthalmological manifestations in the pediatric population with DS.Data sourcesElectronic databases including MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, and LILACS.Study eligibility criteriaPublished observational studies with available and original data were included. Articles were excluded if the study design was a review, letter to the editor, case report, case series, or systematic review and if the subjects had ophthalmological manifestations secondary to other conditions.Participants and interventionsPediatric and adolescent population with DS and with ophthalmological evaluation.Study appraisal and synthesis methodsA data collection form was designed in Excel. Five reviewers extracted relevant details about the design and results of each study. The quality of the studies was assessed by applying the tools for systematic reviews of prevalence and incidence from the Joanna Briggs Institute. We calculated the weighted prevalence of ophthalmological manifestations, considering only the studies reporting the measurement of each manifestation.ResultsTwenty-two articles (from 15 countries, published during 1994–2020) were included in the present systematic review. Ocular manifestations were observed in 85% of the studied pediatric and adolescent populations with DS. The most frequent ones were slanting fissures, oblique fissures, epicanthus, and epiblepharon.ConclusionThe ocular manifestations in the pediatric and adolescent populations with DS are varied, and some can irreversibly affect visual development. Screening of the pediatric population with DS should be conducted from the first months of age and continued annually.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42019127717

Systematic Reviews of Prevalence and Associated Factors of Hypertension in Ethiopia: Finding the Evidence

Background: Hypertension is one of the leading causes of global burden of disease. This paper is intended to provide compressive and up to date evidence on the prevalence and investigate the associated factors of Hypertension in Ethiopia from January, 2000 to April, 2015. Methods: A quantitative epidemiological systematic literature review was conducted by searching different published articles in different data bases which is written in English including MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, Google scholar, Cochrane and grey literatures. The search was restricted to population based studies on hypertension in Ethiopia published between January 2000 and April 2015. All data were extracted independently by a single reviewer using a standardized protocol and data collection form. Nine publications met the inclusion criteria. The total pooled data were nine surveys involving over 13,327 participants. Results: The reported rate of hypertension is varied widely, with the highest rate of 31.5 % in male and the lowest rate of 0.8% in female, partly because of the differences in participants mean ages, source population and study settings. This review found a high prevalence of hypertension in urban residents and different associated factors including overweight, family history of hypertension, age, sex, sleeping for less than 5 hours, Oral contraceptive use, alcohol intake, physical inactivity, eating vegetable three or fewer days per week, salt use, obesity, higher education and vigorous recreational activities were identified. Conclusion and recommendation: Hypertension was considerably prevalent in Ethiopia. Health promotion strategy tailored to the education on modifiable risk factors and establishment of blood pressure screening in primary health care context would be of immense value both in urban and rural areas. This study was highlighting the need for implementation of timely and appropriate strategies for prevention and control of hypertension. Upcoming well-powered studies, using the standardized research design and covering more regions of the country are recommended. Further Meta-analysis study is also recommended.

Systematic Reviews of Prevalence and Associated Factors of Under Five Malnutrition in Ethiopia: Finding the Evidence

Background: Globally, 165 million children are stunted. Currently in Ethiopia, 14 %, 9%, and 25% of children are stunted, wasted and underweight respectively. This paper is intended to provide compressive and up to date evidence on the prevalence and investigate the associated factors of Malnutrition in Ethiopia from January, 2000 to May, 2015. Methods: A quantitative epidemiological systematic literature review was conducted by searching different published articles in different data bases which is written in English including MEDLINE, PubMed, Google scholar, Cochrane and grey literatures. The search was restricted to population based studies on malnutrition in Ethiopia published between January 2000 and May 2015. All data were extracted independently by a single reviewer using a standardized protocol and data collection form. Eleven publications met the inclusion criteria. The total pooled data were eleven surveys involving over 7,959 participants. Results: The reported rate of malnutrition is varied widely; the highest rate of under nutrition, stunting and wasting was 49.2, 57.1 and 42.3 respectively and the lowest rate of under nutrition, stunting and wasting was 8.9,24, 4.1 respectively. This variation could be due to seasonal variation; differences in participants mean ages, source population and study settings. This review found a high prevalence of malnutrition both in urban and rural residents and different associated factors including age, sex, prelactal feeding, malaria, deprivation of colostrum and other 17other associated factors. Conclusion and recommendation: Under five malnutrition was considerably prevalent in Ethiopia. Further investigation is important for other vulnerable groups like lactating women, school children, people with different chronic non communicable diseases and older age groups. Primary prevention tailored to provide education on weaning practice, early initiation of breast feeding, family planning, prevention of malaria and diarrhea, health education about fruits and vegetables and malnutrition screening in primary health care context would be of immense value. Further Meta-analysis study is also recommended.

The development of a critical appraisal tool for use in systematic reviews addressing questions of prevalence.

Recently there has been a significant increase in the number of systematic reviews addressing questions of prevalence. Key features of a systematic review include the creation of an a priori protocol, clear inclusion criteria, a structured and systematic search process, critical appraisal of studies, and a formal process of data extraction followed by methods to synthesize, or combine, this data. Currently there exists no standard method for conducting critical appraisal of studies in systematic reviews of prevalence data. A working group was created to assess current critical appraisal tools for studies reporting prevalence data and develop a new tool for these studies in systematic reviews of prevalence. Following the development of this tool it was piloted amongst an experienced group of sixteen healthcare researchers. The results of the pilot found that this tool was a valid approach to assessing the methodological quality of studies reporting prevalence data to be included in systematic reviews. Participants found the tool acceptable and easy to use. Some comments were provided which helped refine the criteria. The results of this pilot study found that this tool was well-accepted by users and further refinements have been made to the tool based on their feedback. We now put forward this tool for use by authors conducting prevalence systematic reviews.

Evidence-Based Guidance for Culturally Sensitive Assessment and Interventions for Perinatal Depression in Black American Women

This article provides a review of published evidence-based guidance about culturally sensitive assessment and treatment intervention strategies addressing perinatal depression in black American women. Culturally sensitive approaches focus more on the woman's environment than on her race and thus may improve access to treatment for perinatal depression by increasing health literacy. The authors abstracted evidence-based guidance from articles published between November 2005 and September 2011, including only articles specifically analyzing a discrete sample of black American women during pregnancy or within 6 months postpartum. They also examined research on unique cultural characteristics of black American women. To obtain relevant studies, the authors searched for research literature indexed in PubMed, using key terms associated with 2 systematic reviews of prevalence and risk factors for perinatal depression and additional keywords as used in the articles found. They abstracted the focus, design and methods, population, and results for each article in a table; discussed the findings; and suggested assessment and intervention strategies based on the studies' results. Sixteen articles from 13 journals provide compelling evidence of culture-based risk factors for perinatal depression for black American women and information to guide culturally sensitive assessments and interventions. The literature provides a rich compendium of relevant and useful implications for clinical practice in assessing and addressing depression among pregnant black American women. Primary care providers may want to incorporate culturally sensitive screening questions to early identify and facilitate treatment interventions for depressive symptoms in their pregnant black American patients.