Lack of Knowledge About Hepatitis C Infection Rates Among Patients With Inherited Coagulation Disorders in Countries Under the Eastern Mediterranean Region Office of WHO (EMRO): A Meta-Analysis

CONTEXT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a public health problem. HCV alone is responsible for 90% cases of acute hepatitis among multiply transfused patients who are at risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). OBJECTIVES To provide a clear picture of available data, we performed a systematic review of the epidemiological characteristics of HCV infection among patients with inherited coagulation disorders in the countries under the Eastern Mediterranean Region Office (EMRO). EVIDENCE ACQUISITION Meta-analysis was carried out on the basis of results of electronic and manual search. This analysis included studies in English, French, and Persian that met with the following criteria: (1) appropriate study design: cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort; (2) studies reporting HCV prevalence according to enzyme immune assay; (3) studies in which the sample population was enrolled from EMRO countries. According to the results of the heterogeneity tests, we used fixed-effect/random-effect model for our meta-analysis, with the "Metan" command. RESULTS We included 30 studies, most of which were from Iran. The mean age of the subjects ranged from 13 to 27.1 years. The majority of the patients were male (range, 81% to 100%). The pooled estimate of HCV infection among patients with inherited coagulation disorders was 48.07% (95% confidence interval [CI], range: 27.39-55.68) in Iran, 36.03% (95% CI, range: 4.466-67.598) in Pakistan, and 48.27% (95% CI, range: 36.12-60.43) in all the EMRO countries taken together. CONCLUSIONS In Iran and other EMRO countries, the HCV infection rate among patients with inherited coagulation disorders is high. Our study shows that there is a lack of knowledge about infections in such patients in most of the EMRO countries. It is the responsibility of health-policy makers to address this knowledge gap and provide safe and adequate treatment for patients in high-risk groups.