Prevalence of Post‐Chikungunya Infection Chronic Inflammatory Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Objective To determine the percentage of patients who would develop chronic inflammatory rheumatism (CIR) following chikungunya (CHIK) virus disease. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the literature in 3 databases (PubMed, Science Citation Index, and Scopus) to identify studies assessing the proportion of patients who progress to CHIK‐CIR. We performed a random‐effects model meta‐analysis to calculate the pooled prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). A 2‐tailed alpha level of 5% was used for hypothesis testing. Measures of heterogeneity, including Cochran's Q statistic, the I 2 index, and the tau‐squared test, were calculated and reported. Subgroup analyses were conducted by type of study and country, by studies evaluating chronic arthritis, and by studies with ≥200 patients and followup ≥18 months. Publication bias was assessed using a funnel‐plot. Results Up to June 15, 2015, our literature search yielded 578 citations. The pooled prevalence of CHIK‐CIR in 18 selected studies among 5,702 patients was 40.22% (95% CI 31.11–49.34; τ 2  = 0.0838). From studies derived from India, prevalence was 27.27% (95% CI 15.66–38.88; τ 2  = 0.0411), while from France, prevalence was 50.25% (95% CI 25.38–75.12; τ 2  = 0.1797). The prevalence of CHIK chronic arthritis was 13.66% (95% CI 9.31–18.00; τ 2  = 0.0060). Considering just those studies with ≥200 patients assessed, prevalence was 34.14% (95% CI 23.99–44.29; τ 2  = 0.0525). In studies with a followup ≥18 months, prevalence was 32.13% (95% CI 22.21–42.04; τ 2  = 0.0453). Conclusion According to our results in the most conservative scenario, approximately 25% of CHIK cases would develop CHIK‐CIR (34% if we just consider the most representative studies), and 14% would develop chronic arthritis.