Back ground and Aim:
Depression is a common problem in students, which can cause com plications in students. The present meta-analysis was conducted to prevalence and risk .factors of depression in Iranian college studentsSearch Method: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using preferred re porting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis PRISMA . Databases, including SID, Magiran, Iranmedex, IranDoc, Pubmed, Scopus, Science_Direct, Web of Science, Embase and Google Scholar were searched until June 2019.Cochran’s Q test, I2 index and τ2 index were used to assess the heterogeneity. Random-effects model was used for combining the .results using comparative meta-analysis software version 2.2 Results: Overall, 89 studies containing Iranian students with 33,564 Iranian students were included in the Meta-analysis. The prevalence of depression was estimated to be 48% 95% CI: 43.6-52.5 .The prevalence of depression in male and famel were 51.3% 95% CI: 41.1 61.4 and 48.9% 95% CI: 41.0-54.8 respectively. The prevalence of mild, moderate, and severe depression was estimated to be 26.1% 95% CI: 23.8-28.6 , 15.5% 95% CI: 13.1-18.3 and 6.4% 95% CI: 5.1-8.0 respectively. The highest and lowest prevalence of depression were in Beck-I questionnaire 68.4% [95% CI: 38.8-88.1] and GHQ-28 questionnaire was 39.2% [95% CI: 24.6-56.1] .The highest and lowest prevalence of depression were 58.6% 95% CI: 44.1-71.7 and 32.8% 95% CI: 1.8-92.7 for University of national and Payame Noor University respectively. The prevalence of depression in Iranian students had a significantly increasing trend according to the year of study P < 0.001 . Among the risk factors, the inter. est to the field significantly reduces students depression P<0.001 Conclusion: According to high prevalence of depression in Iranian students, prevention and treatment programs are recommended