International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-78021122020042022322232ENDepartments of Health Services and Administration School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, TehranDepartments of Health Services and Administration School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, TehranDepartments of Medical library and Information Science School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran20200420<p><span class="fontstyle0">The prevalence of mental disorders in Iran is rising for many reasons including the population growth<br />and its problems, the collapse of the family foundation, the economic problems, etc. Epidemiological<br />studies of psychiatric disorders play an important role in determining the general mental health of<br />the population and policy‑making and future planning of service delivery. To identify the relevant<br />studies, two authors independently searched different scholarly databases including Embase,<br />PubMed/MEDLINE, ISI/Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, Psych INFO, and Iranian databases such as<br />MagIran, SID, IranPsych, and Irandoc from 1</span><span class="fontstyle0" style="font-size: 5pt;">st </span><span class="fontstyle0">January 2007 up to 1</span><span class="fontstyle0" style="font-size: 5pt;">st </span><span class="fontstyle0">July 2018. The gray literature<br />(through Google Scholar) was also mined. Studies written in English or in the Persian language<br />were searched. After searching the databases and removing duplicates cases, a total of 10 studies<br />were selected and included in the study, which reported a total of 14 prevalence rates. There were<br />a total of 72,262 participants, of whom 32,925 were male and 39,337 were female. The prevalence<br />of psychiatric disorders in studies which used screening tool was 31.03% (95% confidence<br />interval: 25.99–36.07). The prevalence was 25.42% in studies which used clinical interviews<br />(95% CI: 15.96–34.88). There is an undeniable fact that the prevalence of mental disorders in Iran<br />has been increasing, and this could be a warning to policy‑makers and health system managers.<br />Hence, it is necessary to pay attention to this issue to maintain social capital, vitality, and efficiency<br />of individuals and society as a whole.<br /></span></p><p><span class="fontstyle2"><strong>Keywords</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle3">Iran, mental health, meta-analysis, prevalence, psychiatry</span></p>http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/2232http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/2232/717718032