Prevalence of elder abuse in Iran: a Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: In the past century, elder abuse has become an important health issue and a stressful event that negatively affects the physical and mental health of the elders.

Aims: Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the prevalence of elder abuse in Iran through systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: All articles about elderly abuse in Iran since 2005-2017 were searched using the Google Scholar search engine, four Iranian databases (Magiran, IranMedex, SID) and six international English language databases(Web of Science, Cochrane, Scopus, Pubmed, Science Direct-Embase) with keywords of Elder Abuse, Elder Mistreatment, Elder Neglect, Abuse and a combination of these keywords. After examining the entry and exit criteria and qualitative evaluation of the articles, Data was analyzed by comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) software.

Findings: In a systematic review, 15 articles on elders in Iran were included in the study. The overall prevalence of elder abuse was 48.3% (with 95% confidence interval: 28.6-68.6) and the highest prevalence of elder abuse was related to the care neglect dimensionat the prevalence rate of 38.4% (with 95% confidence interval: 21.7-51.6) and the lowest prevalence rate of elder abuse was related to the rejection atthe prevalence rate of 11% (with 95% confidence interval: 6.9-17.1).

Conclusion: The prevalence of elder abuse among elders was high in Iran. Considering the growing elderly population in Iran, preventive measures should be considered in this regard. For this reason, community health nurses are required to provide the elderly, family and community with necessary preventive interventions in this regard.