Prevalence of alcohol consumption in most at-risk groups in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Many studies have assessed the prevalence of alcohol consumption in Iran. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of alcohol consumption in different groups.

Material and Methods

We searched international and databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and we searched two main Farsi-language index databases including Scientific Information Database (SID) and the Irandoc. Grey literature search was also performed in Google Scholar, PsycINFO, ProQuest Dissertation and Theses without time limit until June 2020. All studies that reported the prevalence of alcohol consumption among Iranians were included in current study.

Results

From 9,038 screened studies, 109 studies with 925,480 participants were included. The pooled prevalence of alcohol consumption was estimated 24% (95% CI: 18.0–31.0), 12% (95%CI: 10.0–14.0), 14% (95%CI: 13.0–15.0), 19% (95%CI: 13.0–26.0), 15% (95%CI: 3.0–28.0) among prisoners, general population, students, drivers, and street children, respectively.

Conclusion

This systematic review indicated higher prevalence of alcohol consumption in prisoners, drivers, and street children than the general population and other subgroups. The distribution of the alcohol prevalence studies in different groups and provinces were heterogeneous. The lack of studies among some groups and in regions warrants further, attention.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol drinking
• prisoners
• street children
• students
• Iran

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.