1.Prevalence of HIV, Hepatitis B and C Virus Co-infections among Iranian High-Risk Groups: A Systematic Review and Meta- Analysis
Amir Almasi Hashiani ; Farzin Sadeghi ; Erfan Ayubi ; Shahab Rezaeian ; Yousef Moradi ; Kamyar Mansori ; Behzad Gholamaliei ; Abolfazl Mohammadbeigi ; Salman Khazaei
Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences 2019;26(3):37-48
Co-infection with hepatitis B and C among HIV infected patients are prevalent among
high-risk populations. This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of HIV, HCV and HBV
co-infections among high-risk populations in Iran.
We systematically searched the national and international electronic databases until 2016.
The primary outcome was the prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and HIV co-infections in different
high-risk populations in Iran. All English and Persian studies conducted on Iranian high-risk
groups were included in the study. The review was reported based on PRISMA guidelines and data
were analysed at 95% confidence level using random effect models.Overall, 916 relevant papers were recognised and 14 articles were included in the metaanalysis.
The pooled estimates of HBV/HCV, HCV/HIV, HBV/HIV and HBV/HCV/HIV were
1.3% (95%CI: 0.5–2.1), 16.3% (95%CI: 1.1–31.6), 0.5% (95%CI: 0–1.4) and 0.5% (95%CI: 0.2–0.8),
respectively. Based on subgroup analysis, there was a higher proportion of all co-infections from
the years 2010–2016 as compared to that of the years 2003–2009.
Our results highlighted that HCV/HIV co-infection in Iranian high-risk groups including
injection drug users (IDUs) and prisoners is common. In addition, the increasing trend of coinfections
should be considered alarming for policymakers.