Toxoplasma and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion: A Meta-Analysis in A Population of Iranian Women

Toxoplasma gondii is found as an intracellular protozoan parasite in the Apicomplexa phylum that can be transmitted to the fetus and causes miscarriage, infection, and asymptomatic neonatal disease. In the present study, we characterized the seroprevalence rate of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in a population of Iranian women with a recent a spontane- ous abortion. We examined our national and international databases including Irandoc, Magiran, SID, Medlib, Scopus, PubMed, and the Science Direct. The search strategy was carried out by using keywords and MeSH terms. The statistical analysis was performed by STATA 14.2. By using the random effects model and the fixed effects model the statistical analysis was performed while the heterogeneity was ≥75 and ≤50%, respectively. We used the chi-squared test and I(2) index to calculate heterogeneity among studies, and for evaluating publication bias, Funnel plots and Egger tests were used. The seroprevalence positive rate of IgG among women who had experienced abortion was observed 32% [95% confidence interval (CI): 20-45%] based on the random-effects model. The seroprevalence positive rate of IgM based on the fixed-effect model and positive IgG rate based on the random-effect model was evaluated 4% (95% CI: 3-6%) and 32% (9% CI: 3-42%) among women immediately after an abortion, respectively. According to the finding of our study, toxoplasmosis can be one of the most significant causes of abortion.