Published online Jan 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i1.151
Peer-review started: September 29, 2016
First decision: October 20, 2016
Revised: November 3, 2016
Accepted: December 16, 2016
Article in press: December 19, 2016
Published online: January 7, 2017
Processing time: 98 Days and 19.7 Hours
To determine hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection prevalence in each country of the Middle-East and the overall prevalence of the region.
In this systematic review, we gathered all documents related to HCV infection prevalence among hemodialysis patients in 17 middle-east countries from April 2006 to March 2016. We selected only cross-sectional studies that had proper sampling and measurement methods as well as a valid statistical analysis.
After screening of 7311 documents, 56 studies were selected reporting the prevalence of HCV infection among hemodialysis patients from 10 countries of the region. Seven countries including United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Israel, and Cyprus did not have any relevant document; thus, their latest reports were just mentioned. We performed the meta-analysis and determined the prevalence rates for each country as well as the whole region. The overall HCV infection prevalence among hemodialysis patients in the region was reported to be 25.3%; Egypt and Syria had the highest reported rates while Iran and Lebanon had the lowest. Further investigations are still needed to provide more reliable databases, find main risk factors, and to improve diagnosis and treatment plans, particularly in higher prevalent countries.
Controlling the prevalence and improving the management methods of HCV infection among hemodialysis patients are of a great concern in the Middle-East region.
Core tip: This paper is a systematic review and meta-analysis of the reports published from April 2006 to March 2016 on the prevalence of hepatitis C infection among 17 countries of the Middle-East region including: Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Egypt, Cyprus, Qatar, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Israel, and Kuwait.