Background:
The prevalence of allergic rhinitis in the world is 10-15%, and it is currently
the most common chronic disease among children. There is no comprehensive statistics about the
prevalence of allergic rhinitis among Iranian children, therefore, this systematic review and metaanalysis
was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of allergic rhinitis among the Iranian children.
Methods:
The present study was conducted based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews
and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. The data was collected using key words including
allergic rhinitis, prevalence, epidemiology, child OR children, pediatrics and Iran, in international
databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane, Embase, and three national databases
including Magiran, Iran Medex, and Scientific Information Databank (SID) till December 2018.
The STROBE checklist was used for quality assessment. The data were analyzed using STATA software
version 12.1.
Results:
The prevalence of allergic rhinitis in children and adolescents were 18% (99.7% CI: 10-28%
with publication bias of 0.174) and 25% (99.8% CI: 17-33 with publication bias of 0.617) respectively.
The prevalence of allergic rhinitis in males was estimated to be 27% (99.4% CI: 17-36) with publication
bias of 0.538 and in females was 23% (99.4% CI: 14-31) with publication bias of 0.926.
Conclusion:
The prevalence of allergic rhinitis is approximately high among Iranian children and adolescents;
thus, educational strategies should be considered to decrease the prevalence of this disease in
Iran.
Objective and subjective assessments of nasal obstruction in children and adolescents with allergic rhinitis
