International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-780251020140810121323EN20140803<p>&nbsp;<strong>Background: </strong>The recent studies show that <em>Rotavirus </em>is important cause of the acute gastroenteritis. The aim of this review is to estimate the number of <em>Rotavirus </em>infection among Iranian children by performing a systematic review and estimating a pooled data.</p> <p><strong>Methods: </strong>We performed a systematic literature review in relevant databases including PUBMED, MEDLINE, OVID, SID, MAGIRAN, and IRANMEDEX. Search in databases was done in October 10, 2013. Meta‑analysis was performed using the STATA statistical package version 11. We assessed heterogeneity by Q‑test and used random model for pooling measures of proportion of <em>Rotavirus </em>infection among Iranian children with diarrhea (and 95% confidence intervals [CI]). Sub group analysis between in‑patient and outpatient group were done and publication bias was assessed by Egger and Begg tests.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 154 records were identified in our searching. There were 36 studies including a total of 15,368 children with diarrhea. Out of 15,368 children, 6,338 were positive for <em>Rotavirus </em>gastroenteritis. Overall pooled estimate of infection with <em>Rotavirus </em>among cases of gastroenteritis was 0.35 (95% CI, 0.28-0.41). Pooled estimates for hospitalized children and outpatient subgroups were 0.39 (95% CI, 0.30-0.48), and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23-0.38), respectively.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study supports the importance of <em>Rotavirus </em>in the Iranian population such as common cause of diarrhea among children. Therefore, decision to adopt immunization programs to prevent <em>Rotavirus </em>infection might be helpful in Iran.</p> <p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Acute gastroenteritis, children, and diarrhea, <em>Rotavirus</em> infection</p>http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/1419http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/1419/1693