Cryptosporidium infection among people living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Pathogens and global health 2020-05, Vol.114 (4), p.183-193
• Main Authors: Mohebali, Mehdi, Yimam, Yonas, Woreta, Ambachew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CD4+ T cell count; Cryptosporidium; Ethiopia; human Immunodeficiency virus; meta-analysis; Review
• ISSN: 2047-7724; 2047-7732
• DOI: 10.1080/20477724.2020.1746888

Studies on the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are inconsistent and heterogeneous. Therefore, this systematic review with meta-analysis was performed to assess the burden of the infection relative to the proportion of CD4 + T cell count among PLWHA in Ethiopia. Articles published before 15 May 2019, have been retrieved for this systematic review using five databases; PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and ProQuest, supplemented by the search for gray literature. The overall pooled prevalence and pooled Odds Ratio (OR) with their 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were estimated using STATA 14 statistical Software. Of the 255 studies retrieved, 31 were considered for the final analysis. As many as 8,645 Ethiopians infected with HIV were included in the final quantitative synthesis. The overall pooled prevalence estimate of Cryptosporidium infection among PLWHA in Ethiopia was 11% (95%CI: 0.09-0.13). HIV-infected people with low CD4 + T cell count (CD4  500 cells/mm3) (OR: 13.07 (95%CI: 6.38-26.75). Cryptosporidium infection in PLWHA in Ethiopia showed decreasing patterns in 2001-2010, 2011-2014, and in 2015-2019, 14.6% (95%CI: 0.076-0.217), 12.71% (95%CI: 0.086-0.167) and 6.7% (95%CI: 0.044-0.090), respectively (p