TY - JOUR T1 - Global prevalence of depression in HIV/AIDS: a systematic review and meta-analysis JF - BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care JO - BMJ Support Palliat Care SP - 404 LP - 412 DO - 10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001952 VL - 9 IS - 4 AU - Sepide Rezaei AU - Saba Ahmadi AU - Jeiran Rahmati AU - Hossein Hosseinifard AU - Afsaneh Dehnad AU - Aidin Aryankhesal AU - Hosein Shabaninejad AU - Shabnam Ghasemyani AU - Samira Alihosseini AU - Nicola Luigi Bragazzi AU - Samira Raoofi AU - Zahra Mansour Kiaee AU - Ahmad Ghashghaee Y1 - 2019/12/01 UR - http://spcare.bmj.com/content/9/4/404.abstract N2 - Introduction The incidence of some fatal diseases, including HIV/AIDS, accompanied by depression has become a significant concern in developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. A great deal of time and money are spent on controlling and reducing the complications of this infection across the world. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study was to clarify the global prevalence rate of depression in patients living with HIV/AIDS via a systematic review and meta-analysis.Methodology All articles in English, published between 2000 and 2018, were systematically searched from the original databases of Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and Embase. As a result, a total of 118 articles were identified.Results The total sample size in these articles was 51143 people, and the number of patients suffering from moderate and severe levels of depression was 14 942. The results of the analysis based on the random-effects (DerSimonian and Laird) model revealed that the prevalence rate of depression in patients with HIV/AIDS was 31% (95% CI 28% to 34%), with a 98% heterogeneity index which was reported significant. Meanwhile, the highest prevalence rate of depression based on continent was in South America at 44% (95% CI 35% to 53%) and the lowest rate was in Europe at 22% (95% CI 17% to 27%).Conclusion In general, there was a higher prevalence rate of depression in developing and underdeveloped countries than in developed countries, which could be attributed to the advancement of science and the possibilities for early diagnosis of this syndrome.Trial registration number CRD42019119137. ER -