The epidemiology of hepatitis C virus in Iran: Systematic review and meta-analyses

Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemiology in Iran and estimate the pooled mean HCV antibody prevalence in different risk populations. We systematically reviewed and synthesized reports of HCV incidence and/or prevalence, as informed by the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook, and reported our findings following the PRISMA guidelines. DerSimonian-Laird random effects meta-analyses were implemented to estimate HCV prevalence in various risk populations. We identified five HCV incidence and 472 HCV prevalence measures. Our meta-analyses estimated HCV prevalence at 0.3% among the general population, 6.2% among intermediate risk populations, 32.1% among high risk populations, and 4.6% among special clinical populations. Our meta-analyses for subpopulations estimated HCV prevalence at 52.2% among people who inject drugs (PWID), 20.0% among populations at high risk of healthcare-related exposures, and 7.5% among populations with liver-related conditions. Genotype 1 was the most frequent circulating strain at 58.2%, followed by genotype 3 at 39.0%. HCV prevalence in the general population was lower than that found in other Middle East and North Africa countries and globally. However, HCV prevalence was high in PWID and populations at high risk of healthcare-related exposures. Ongoing transmission appears to be driven by drug injection and specific healthcare procedures.

Host genetic factors and clinical parameters influencing the occult hepatitis C virus infection in patients on chronic hemodialysis: Is it still a controversial infection?

“…Despite the implementation of control and precautionary plans and screening the blood products for HCV, this infection is still the main health problem in patients requiring multiple blood transfusions, such as those undergoing hemodialysis . Therefore, the prevalence of HCV in Iranian patients undergoing hemodialysis ranged from 0.0% to 31.4% …”

Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus among hemodialysis patients in the Middle East and North Africa: systematic syntheses, meta-analyses, and meta-regressions

“…This study was conducted under the umbrella of the MENA HCV Epidemiology Synthesis Project, an on-going effort to characterize HCV epidemiology and inform key public health research, policy, and programming priorities in MENA [13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Populations With Liver‐Related Diseases in the Middle East and North Africa

“…The role of HCV in liver diseases was found to be 8‐fold higher in Egypt and 5‐fold higher in Pakistan compared to the other countries (Table ). These findings should not be surprising given the high HCV prevalence and unique nature of epidemics in these two countries relative to the rest of MENA …”

“…In this project, the MENA region consisted of 24 countries, as outlined in Supporting Box . As relevant in this study, separate analyses were conducted for Egypt and Pakistan, given the unique nature of the HCV epidemics in these two countries relative to the remaining MENA countries …”

“…P < 0.05 was considered to provide strong evidence for an association. HCV prevalence in the general population of each country was provided through meta‐analyses of prevalence in each MENA country . Statistical analyses were performed using STATA 13…”