Prevalence of Helminthiasis among Anemic Pregnant Women: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Anemia is a global major problem where there is a reduction in hemoglobin level that could be caused by several factors such as helminth infection that induces iron deficiency anemia. The purpose of this research is to find out the association between Helminth infection and Anemia and the prevalence of helminthiasis among anemic pregnant women. Articles with relevant data containing comprehensive information on Helminthiasis among Anemic pregnant women were obtained from ProQuest, Science Direct, PubMed and Wiley online library which were then exported to be screened using Rayyan. Sub-analysis and Meta-analysis were done using a review manager. Result from the Meta-analysis shows that the pooled prevalence of helminthiasis among anemic pregnant women is 36.77% based on the 20 included articles. While the Sub-analysis shows that Asia has a prevalence of 49.47% with fewer studies than Africa with a prevalence of 33.63% and the most common helminth causing the infection is Hookworm with a prevalence of 24.38%. To conclude, more studies are required to validate the prevalence in each region.