Prevalence of ocular toxoplasmosis among people living with HIV: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Maria Kantzanou, Evangelos Kostares, Georgia Kostare, Fotini Boufidou, Antzela Tzanai, Michael Kostares, Athanasios Tsakris- Microbiology (medical)
- Microbiology
Aim: To determine the prevalence of ocular toxoplasmosis among people living with HIV through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Materials & methods: A literature search was conducted, estimating pooled prevalence and performing quality assessment, outlier, influential and meta-regression analyses. Results: Twenty-nine studies were included in the analysis, revealing that the rate of ocular toxoplasmosis among people living with HIV was 0.37% (95% CI: 0.2–0.6). Substantial heterogeneity was observed among the studies. Despite analyzing continuous variables, including year of publication, proportion of males, mean age and proportion of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, no statistically significant associations were found. Conclusion: This study provides an overview of the prevalence of ocular toxoplasmosis in people living with HIV, emphasizing the need for further research to uncover factors contributing to its development.