Determination of opium abuse prevalence in Iranian young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The Islamic Republic of Iran located on the largest transit routes for opiates smuggled in the world and opium is the most common drug of choice in this country. A meta-analysis study was conducted to estimate the opium abuse prevalence for Iranian young people. The meta analysis was designed according to MOOSE guideline for review of observational studies. Factors related to heterogeneity of prevalence in national level was assessed using meta regression multivariate model. The PubMed/Medline, ISI/Web of Science, and Scopus/Elsevier databases and reference lists of eligible articles were searched. A total of 52,173 samples were included in analysis (32,116 college students and 20,057 high school students). The pooled prevalence of opium abuse in male, female, and mixed was 6.0% (95% CI = 5.0-7.0%), 2.0% (95% CI = 1.0-2.0%), and 4.0% (95% CI = 3.0-5.0%), respectively. Meta-regression model found that prevalence was significantly higher in older students, and in studies with multistage sampling, and was lower in newer conducted studies. The prevalence of opium abuse in Iranian youth students is higher than for other countries as well as sampling methods, and the level of education and age is in association with variation in prevalence across provinces. Declining prevalence among male students during past 30 years is notable.