Prevalence of and risk factors for long-term disabilities following chikungunya virus disease: A meta-analysis

The main aim of this study was to investigate the percentage of individuals who developed long-term disabilities after chikungunya virus (CHIKV) disease on the basis of follow up time interval and its associated risk factors.

In this meta-analysis, electronic databases PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar were searched to identify cohort studies of CHIKV disease from January 2000 to June 2018. Total 28 eligible studies were selected for analysis. The pooled prevalence rate (PR), risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for both effect measures were calculated using a random effects model.

Among 28 studies, 24 studies were used for PR calculation and the PR for the long-term disabilities of CHIKV disease patients were found 39.70%, [95% CI: (31.77-47.64), p < 0.01] for follow up time between 6 and 12 months, 35.85%, [95% CI: (24.09-47.61), p < 0.01] for follow up time between 12 and 18 months and 28.20%, [95% CI: (19.74-36.66), p < 0.01] for greater than 18 months respectively. Eighteen studies were used for RR calculation and significant association were found between long-term disabilities after CHIKV disease and gender [RR: 1.46, p < 0.01], age [RR: 1.61, p < 0.01], diabetes [RR: 1.40, p < 0.01], hypertension [RR: 1.37, p < 0.01], severity of pain at acute stage [RR: 2.02, p < 0.01].

Approximately 40% patients developed long-term disabilities after 6 months of CHIKV disease and 28% patients still suffer from this disease after 18 months of acute infection.