borderline significantp = 0.052
Egger’s test indicated a statistically significant presence of publication bias (β = − 6.77, z = − 3.30, p = 0.001), whereas Begg’s test was borderline significant (z = − 2.02, p = 0.052).To evaluate the potential impact of publication bias on the pooled prevalence estimate, the Trim-and-Fill method was applied using a random-effects (REML) model.