{
  "abstract": "Ocular allergy ranges from seasonal and perennial allergic conjunctivitis to chronic, potentially sight-threatening vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC). African prevalence studies use heterogeneous terminology and case-ascertainment methods, and their estimates have not previously been synthesized. To synthesise published prevalence estimates of ocular allergy among African children, quantify uncertainty around summary estimates, and describe between-study variation. PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, African Journals Online and African Index Medicus were searched for observational studies published from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2025. Disease-specific terms were supplemented with broader ocular-morbidity terminology, reference-list screening and citation verification to identify studies reporting ocular allergy as a secondary outcome. Eligible studies enrolled African children and provided an extractable numerator and denominator. Logit-transformed proportions were pooled using a random-effects restricted maximum-likelihood (REML) model in Stata 17. Heterogeneity, 95% prediction intervals, diagnostic and setting subgroups, and sensitivity analyses were reported. Fourteen studies from five countries included 18,681 children, of whom 1,911 had ocular allergy, allergic conjunctivitis or VKC/vernal disease. The pooled prevalence was 9.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.4%–15.6%), with extreme heterogeneity (τ2 = 1.23; I2 = 99.19%; Q(13) = 1844.38, p < 0.001) and a 95% prediction interval of 0.8%–55.9%. The pooled estimate was 14.5% (95% CI 5.5%–33.0%; k = 6) for allergic conjunctivitis and 6.6% (95% CI 3.8%–11.2%; k = 8) for VKC/vernal disease; the subgroup difference was not statistically significant (Q β (1) = 1.99, p = 0.158). School/community studies yielded 8.9% (95% CI 5.0%–15.4%; k = 13), whereas the single clinic study reported 17.6% (95% CI 15.8%–19.6%). Substituting a narrower VKC case definition gave 8.4% (95% CI 4.9%–14.2%), and leave-one-out estimates ranged from 8.0% to 10.2%. Published studies consistently report ocular allergy among African children, although the available evidence is too heterogeneous to support a reliable continental prevalence estimate. Variation in case definition and ascertainment is a plausible and likely substantial contributor, but could not be quantified formally. The findings support consideration of ocular allergy within school eye-health and primary eye-care programmes while underscoring the need for standardised diagnostic and reporting methods.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 16,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Mohamed Farah Ismail",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-2594-6728"
    },
    {
      "name": "Intisar Khalafalla",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-1085-4011"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ahmed Saed Dirie"
    },
    {
      "name": "Chalachew Muche Alemayehu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Charity Zalwango"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sowda Abdikarim Sheikh Isse",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-1857-0318"
    },
    {
      "name": "Fathi Abdi Farah"
    },
    {
      "name": "Zakaria Omar Sheck",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-6927-9634"
    },
    {
      "name": "Amina Mohamed Mire"
    },
    {
      "name": "Abdirashid Dahir Herow"
    },
    {
      "name": "Amina Aden Ahmed"
    },
    {
      "name": "Farah Dubad Abdi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ibrahim Abdirahman Mohamed"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mohamed Jayte",
      "orcid": "0009-0008-2204-0384"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bahja Ahmed Mumin",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-0989-9245"
    },
    {
      "name": "Theoneste Hakizimana"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/47ak86askgsyv.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41598-026-71277-9",
  "fulltext_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-71277-9",
  "id": "47ak86askgsyv",
  "issns": [
    "2045-2322"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-71277-9",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "Q"
    ],
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      "lcc",
      "R"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2739|Ocular Surface and Contact Lens"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7216006705",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-71277-9.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "Springer Science and Business Media LLC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/47ak86askgsyv.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:19Z",
      "native_id": "10.1038/s41598-026-71277-9",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-71277-9"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T14:21:17Z",
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2739|Ocular Surface and Contact Lens",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Prevalence of ocular allergy among children in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis",
  "title_text": "Prevalence of ocular allergy among children in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T14:20:45Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/47ak86askgsyv",
  "venue": "Scientific Reports",
  "versions": []
}