Meta-analysis of cytomegalovirus seroprevalence in volunteer blood donors and healthy subjects in Iran from 1992 to 2013

OBJECTIVE(S): Human cytomegalovirus (CMV), a double-strand DNA herpesvirus, can be transmitted via blood transfusion which is especially important for immunocompromised recipients and can cause a fatal infection. CMV seroprevalence in Iran was studied on blood donors, healthy subjects, and some patients. Highly variable rates were detected. The purpose of this study was to review CMV seroprevalence in blood donors and apparently healthy individuals, in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and fifty-eight electronic and paper-based resources and databases including published articles in internal and external journals, seminars, dissertations, and theses available in the database and different websites were used to be systematically reviewed as a meta-analysis. Less related articles to the issue, papers of specific high risk population, and articles with not enough information, were excluded. Eventually 22 articles that satisfied our selection criteria were systematically reviewed and analyzed. To explore heterogeneity between studies the I square (I(2)) index was used. Data were analyzed using the statistical software package (STATA) 11. RESULTS: The heterogeneity between selected studies was 97% with an I(2) statistic. In this study a random effects model was used for meta-analysis. The prevalence of CMV IgG and CMV IgM antibodies in the country were estimated to be 92% (95% CI: 90-94) and 2.6% (95% CI: 1.7-3.6), respectively. CONCLUSION: Given high rate of CMV seropositivity in Iran, it seems that CMVAbs screening would not be a reasonable and affordable approach to prevent CMV infection via transfusion especially for immune compromised recipients, so alternative strategies should be considered.