Prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, drug use, and sexual behaviors among street children in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Street children face a disproportionately higher risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) due to high-risk sexual and drug use practices. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of these infections and related risk behaviors among street children in Iran.

Methods

We searched PubMed, Web of Science (ISI), Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar for the English-language records and Iranian databases, including SID, Magiran, and IRANDOC for the Farsi-language records up to September 18, 2022. Random effects analysis was used to obtain prevalence estimates for each condition. Homogeneity across included studies was assessed using I ².

Results

We extracted data from 18 eligible studies, re

SUBMITTER: Nasiri N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10620850 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature