Epidemiology of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Iranian Population From 2019 to 2024: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that arises from experiencing traumatic events such as traffic accidents, war, natural disorders, and job incidents. This study focused on determining the epidemiology of PTSD in the Iranian population from 2019 to 2024. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we explored databases such as PubMed, Embase, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Magiran to achieve a maximum variety of screened articles. The quality of the included articles was evaluated using the STROBE checklist. For data analysis, due to the variation in reporting the PTSD prevalence across the reviewed articles, heterogeneity was assessed using the I-2 index, and a random effect model was applied to account for this variation. Results: Out of 800 articles found in the initial review, only 15 articles were entered in the final analysis based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, with a total of 9868 participants. The overall PTSD prevalence in the Iranian population was 31.87% (95% confidence interval [CI]=17.87- 45.87, I-2=95.29%, P<0.001). Additionally, PTSD prevalence in men (36.64%) was higher than in women (35.52%). Conclusion: The prevalence of PTSD in young Iranian men is relatively high, and there was no statistically significant decrease in PTSD prevalence between 2019 and 2024.