Iodine deficiency among pregnant women and its determinants in Ethiopia: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Deficiency of iodine during pregnancy is associated with the increased rates of pregnancy loss, stillbirth, and increased perinatal and infant mortality and may lead to fetal iodine deficiency damaging the neurocognitive growth of the growing fetus. Even though, the implementation of nutrition interventions and other strategies across sub-Saharan African counties has resulted in the reduction of iodine deficiency prevalence, the prevalence of iodine deficiency remains high in many populations including pregnant mothers. OBJECTIVE The objectives of this review will be to estimate the pooled prevalence of iodine deficiency among pregnant mothers in Ethiopia. METHODS Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines will be followed for this systematic review and meta-analysis. The databases we will be; PUBMED, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, CINAHL, and African Journals Online. Search terms we will use are “epidemiology” OR “prevalence” AND “iodine deficiency” OR “insufficient iodine intake” AND associated factors OR “determinant factors” AND “pregnant women” OR “pregnant mother” AND “Ethiopia”. Joanna Briggs Institute Meta-Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI) will be used for critical appraisal of studies. Appropriate statistical tests will be conducted to quantify the heterogeneity between studies and the assessment of publication bias. We will check individual study influence analysis and also conduct subgroup analysis. STATA version 15 will be used for statistical analysis. RESULTS This systematic review started in September 2020. The literature search of the 5 databases revealed 483 papers. We are currently at the screening stage. CONCLUSIONS The systematic review and meta-analysis will provide the pooled prevalence of iodine deficiency among pregnant mothers in Ethiopia. The finding of this study will be helpful to design appropriate preventive and health promotion strategies for the reduction of iodine deficiency; related maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. CLINICALTRIAL PROSPERO CRD42020199737