Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta‑analysis

Abstract

The prevalence of mental disorders in Iran is rising for many reasons including the population growth
and its problems, the collapse of the family foundation, the economic problems, etc. Epidemiological
studies of psychiatric disorders play an important role in determining the general mental health of
the population and policy‑making and future planning of service delivery. To identify the relevant
studies, two authors independently searched different scholarly databases including Embase,
PubMed/MEDLINE, ISI/Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, Psych INFO, and Iranian databases such as
MagIran, SID, IranPsych, and Irandoc from 1st January 2007 up to 1st July 2018. The gray literature
(through Google Scholar) was also mined. Studies written in English or in the Persian language
were searched. After searching the databases and removing duplicates cases, a total of 10 studies
were selected and included in the study, which reported a total of 14 prevalence rates. There were
a total of 72,262 participants, of whom 32,925 were male and 39,337 were female. The prevalence
of psychiatric disorders in studies which used screening tool was 31.03% (95% confidence
interval: 25.99–36.07). The prevalence was 25.42% in studies which used clinical interviews
(95% CI: 15.96–34.88). There is an undeniable fact that the prevalence of mental disorders in Iran
has been increasing, and this could be a warning to policy‑makers and health system managers.
Hence, it is necessary to pay attention to this issue to maintain social capital, vitality, and efficiency
of individuals and society as a whole.

Keywords: Iran, mental health, meta-analysis, prevalence, psychiatry