ApaI and BsmI Genotype Polymorphisms Associated with Vitamin D Receptor and Its Association with Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: The precise effect of vitamin D Receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms on pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is still a matter of debate. This research aimed to investigate BsmI and ApaI polymorphisms on the susceptibility to TB. Methods: VDR gene polymorphism prevalence was considered in cases (people with pulmonary TB and polymorphism of VDR genes) and control (healthy people without pulmonary TB and polymorphism of VDR genes) groups during 2010-2023. The evaluation of the quality of the articles was done with the checklist of Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) systematic reviews checklist for case-control studies and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020. Data were entered into STATA 14 software. Effect size (ES) for polymorphism prevalence and heterogeneity was evaluated based on the random effect model (95% Confidence interval (CI), α = 0.05). Results: In this review, 17 articles were analyzed. The prevalence of polymorphism between two groups of cases (polymorphism of VDR genes in people with pulmonary TB) and controls (polymorphism of VDR genes in healthy people without pulmonary TB) was different and significant (P < 0.001). The highest overall prevalence of polymorphism related to Aa genotypes in the control group (95% CI: 0.34-0.56, ES = 0.45, weight: 49.72) and bb in the case group (95% CI: 0.23-0.66, ES = 0.45, weight: 47.19). Conclusion: VDR gene polymorphisms were different between the case and control groups. The most important polymorphisms were associated with Aa and bb genotypes. Human populations with polymorphisms of the VDR genes may be more susceptible to pulmonary TB.