DOI: 10.4103/apjtm.apjtm_111_26 ISSN: 1995-7645

Prevalence of dengue infection in Bangladesh: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Md Estiar Rahman, Abdullah Al-Taiar, May Salama, Michele A. Kekeh, Ahmed N. Albatineh
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Objective:

To estimate the pooled prevalence of dengue infection in Bangladesh.

Methods:

Literature search was conducted across PubMed, Web of Science, and Hinari between December 2024 and April 2025, supplemented by references searching. The Joanna Briggs Institute checklist was used for evaluating study quality. A random effects meta-analysis of proportion, including subgroup analyses, was performed with R software (version 4.5.1).

Results:

Out of 2 087 records, 28 studies were included. The pooled prevalence of confirmed dengue infection among clinically suspected patients was 49.3% (95% Cl 36.1-62.6), with a significant high heterogeneity ( I 2 =99.2%, τ 2 =1.81, P <0.001). Stratified analysis showed a pooled prevalence of 47.9% (95% Cl 34.0-62.2, I 2=99.1%, τ 2 =1.71, P <0.001) for acute/recent infection, and 7.9% (95% CI 1.3-36.8, I 2 =89.3%, τ 2 =2.64, P <0.001) for prior infection among clinically suspected patients. In the general population, based on a limited number of studies, the pooled prevalence of prior dengue infection was 52.8% (95% CI 8.5-93.1, I 2 =99.9%, τ 2 =3.23, P <0.001). DENV-3 was the most prevalent of 52.0% (95% CI 23.4-79.4, I 2 =98.3%, τ 2 =4.11, P <0.001) among molecularly confirmed serotype-positive patients, followed by DENV-2 of 35.8% (95% CI 13.7-66.2, I2 =98.4%, τ 2 =4.23, P <0.001).

Conclusions:

Despite significant heterogeneity among studies, the pooled estimates provide a clear picture of dengue infection burden in Bangladesh and provide a benchmark for monitoring future trends.

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