Fatores responsáveis pela prevalência global das geohelmintíases: uma overview de revisões sistemáticas

Abstract

It is estimated that more than 1.5 billion people are infected with at least one soiltrasmitted helminth. Although the prevalence of geohelminthiasis and its associatedfactors have been studied over the years, this parasitosis is classified by the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) as Neglected Tropical Disease. Systematic review studieson the subject collect information on infection rates and associated factors in severalcountries. The objective of this overview of systematic reviews is to discuss howenvironmental factors, host-related risk factors, and control strategies influence theprevalence of soil-transmitted helminths in different regions of the world. The followingdatabases were used: LILACS, PubMed, Web of Knowlegde, Embase and TheCochrane Library and Clinical Trials (gray literature). In each of these databases thefollowing descriptors were used: helminths, geohelminths, soil-transmitted helminths, epidemiology, prevalence, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Necatoramericanus, Ancylostoma duodenale, systematic review. Systematic reviews wereincluded, with or without meta-analysis, published until December 2017 and theinclusion criteria were: (i) to present a clear research question and eligibility criteriaused for the selection of the studies; (ii) describe all the sources of information in thesearch and the keywords used; (iii) present the number of studies found in the sources ofinformation and included in the final sample of the systematic review. The evaluation ofthe quality of the studies was done using the AMSTAR tool (Assessing theMethodological Quality of Systematic Reviews). The initial results of the bibliographicsearch identified 1,448 articles of which 125 were excluded by simultaneous indexing intwo or more databases. After review reviews, 17 met the inclusion criteria and wereused in this overview. Factors such as climate, MDA (Mass Drug Administration), WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) access, shoe use and nutritional status wereconsidered to be the main culprits for the prevalence rate of geohelminthiases. AlthoughWHO strategies to reduce the prevalence of geohelminthias have a positive short-termeffect, it is necessary to understand other aspects, such as socioeconomic and culturalfactors, to achieve satisfactory rates of prevalence.