Global seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among patients with mental and neurological disorders: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Toxoplasmosis is the most widespread zoonotic disease that affects one‐third of the world's population, and imposes a major public health problem worldwide. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of toxoplasmosis among patients with neuropsychiatric patients. METHODS: Electronic databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Research Gate, and Scopus were thoroughly searched from February to March 2022 to identify all relevant studies. The quality of studies was evaluated using the Newcastle−Ottawa quality scale for case‐control and cross‐sectional studies. Statistical analysis was done using STATA version 12 software. A random effect model was used to compute the global pooled seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection. Heterogeneity was quantified by using I (2) value. Subgroup analysis was done, and publication bias was assessed using a funnel plot and Egger's test. RESULT: Of 1250 studies, 49 containing 21,093 participants and conducted in 18 countries were included. The global pooled seroprevalence of T. gondii IgG antibody was 38.27% (95% CI: 32.04−44.9) among neuropsychiatric patients and 25.31% (95% CI: 21.53−29.08) in healthy controls with substantial heterogeneity of 98.3%. The prevalence of T. gondii IgG antibody was higher in males (17.52%) than in females (12.35%) neuropsychiatric patients. The highest pooled prevalence of T. gondii IgG antibody was in Europe (57%) followed by Africa (45.25%) and Asia (43%). Time based analysis showed the highest pooled prevalence of T. gondii IgG antibody in 2012−2016 (41.16%). The global pooled seroprevalence T. gondii IgM antibody among neuropsychiatric patients and healthy controls was 6.78% (95% CI: 4.87−8.69) and 3.13% (95% CI: 2.02−4.24), respectively. CONCLUSION: The pooled prevalence of chronic and acute T. gondii infection among neuropsychiatric patients was 38.27% and 6.78%, respectively. This showed a high burden of toxoplasmosis among neurological and psychiatric patients and urges routine screening of those patients and providing appropriate treatment. It also indicates the need for different stakeholders to develop targeted prevention and control strategies for T. gondii infection.