Antipsychotic Polypharmacy Prevalence in MENAT/EMRO Countries: Systematic Review

A systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizes evidence on antipsychotic polypharmacy prevalence in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and Eastern Mediterranean region. The work by Mohammed A. Alhassan includes 17 studies with 6,053 individuals and estimates a pooled prevalence of 50%. It was published on figshare in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze regional treatment patterns based on the pooled prevalence estimate of 50%
• Study heterogeneity in clinical practice based on the reported I² statistic of 98.4%
• Investigate associations with hospitalization rates based on the limited evidence linking polypharmacy to clinical variables
• Evaluate clozapine utilization rates based on the reported pooled prevalence of 12%

Strengths

• Includes 17 studies with a total of 6,053 individuals
• Provides a pooled prevalence estimate of 50% with a 95% confidence interval
• Assesses methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist and GRADE approach

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• The data file is a 41.4 KB DOCX document, suggesting limited scope

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of eight databases

Time Range

Studies published up to February 2026

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-29 05:52:53

Geography

Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and Eastern Mediterranean (MENAT/EMRO) countries