Epidemiology of Diarrhea for Chinese Dairy Calves: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Calf diarrhea is one of the most serious diseases in the dairy industry, which has caused huge economic losses to the worldwide dairy industry, including China. We conducted a meta-analysis to systematical assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of diarrhea among dairy calves in China. The China Science and Technology Journal, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan Fang and Pub Med databases were systematically searched from the inception dates to April 30, 2022, using keywords of prevalence, diarrhea, calves, key factors, determinants, related factors, causes, etiology, prevalence, epidemiology and China. A meta-analysis was performed to calculate 95% Cis using random-effects models. 35 studies reporting the prevalence of dairy calves’ diarrhea in China were selected upon our inclusion criterion. The pooled diarrhea prevalence in dairy calves in China was estimated to be 27.2% (95% CI 24.2-30.2). The results of our systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that the highest prevalence rate was found in Northeast China, followed by Northwest China and East China and the lowest two regions were Northern and central China. The main cause of diarrhea in calves is bacteria, the second is virus and the third is a parasite.