Approval of the research project entitled "Prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism in Iran and its related risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis"

Based on studies, the prevalence of CH in Iran has been reported to be about 2 per 1000 live births, which is much higher than the global average (4.25 per 10,000 births). One possible reason for this difference is the high rate of consanguineous marriages in the country. Various studies have investigated the factors affecting the incidence of CH in Iran, which have reported contradictory results regarding the role of various factors such as mode of delivery, maternal age, month of birth, parental education level, and iodine exposure. Given the higher prevalence of this disease in Iran and the diversity of study results, conducting a systematic review to consolidate data and achieve a more accurate estimate of the prevalence and contributing factors seems necessary. Therefore, the results of this study can play a key role in formulating effective prevention, screening, and treatment policies.