Epidemiology of Hepatitis C Virus in Iranian Thalassemic, Hemodialysis and Hemophiliac Patients: A Meta-Analysis Study

Hepatitis C is one of the most serious viral infections that cause chronic liver disease. Objectives: The current study was conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence and geographical distribution of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in thalassemic, hemodialysis, and hemophiliac patients in Iran. Evidence Acquisition: Articles were identified through international searching databases including PubMed, Scopus, Elsevier, Google Scholar, and Web of Science and Iranian scientific information database (SID), Health.barakatkns, IranDoc, Civilica and MagIran. We reviewed systematically all studies reporting the prevalence of HCV in thalassemic, hemodialysis, and hemophiliac patients. All studies conducted ELISA tests for the evaluation of HCV antibodies In this study meta-analysis method has been used to estimate the pooled prevalence. Results: 270 records were identified by the electronic search, of which 151 studies were identified as relevant papers that were meta-analyzed for the pooled HCV prevalence. Overall, prevalence of HCV were 18.27%(15.99%-20.55%), 11.60%(9.98%-13.22%) and 45.16%(36.72%-53.60%) in thalassemic, hemodialysis and hemophiliac patients. Conclusion: Concerning the high prevalence of HCV among hemophiliac patients, ongoing preventive actions for this group are recommended.