Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Age-Specific Seroprevalence of Hepatitis a in Iran



Farajzadegan Z¹ ; Hoseini SG² ; Kelishadi R³ ; Jamshidi F² ; Nokhodian Z⁴ ; Noori R⁵ ; Mirmoghtadaee P¹ ; Hovsepian S³ ; Mostafavi SN¹
Source: Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Published:2014

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a major cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. Annual medical and work loss costs of hepatitis A are significant even in low-endemic countries. It is recommended that each country should collect and review the information needed to estimate its national burden of hepatitis A to provide evidence for health policy makers to implement appropriate and cost-eff ective preventive strategy for HAV infection. Th e objective of this study was to estimate accurate prevalence of HAV infection in Iran for best preventive measures. Materials and Methods: MEDLINE, Institute of Scientific Information, Scopus, Iranmedex, Irandoc, Magiran and Scientific Information Database were searched. Th e seroprevalence of HAV were pooled by age, sex and residence using fixed and random eff ect models. Results: Sixteen papers representing 11857 subjects were included. Th e overall HAV seroprevalence was 51% (confidence interval [CI] 95%: 50-52%) in fixed and 66% (95% CI: 50-79%) in random eff ects models. Th e prevalence was 32% (CI 95%: 11-63%) in less than 20, 50% (CI 95%: 24-75%) in 20-30, and 67% (CI 95%: 17-95%) in more than 30 years of age. Th e diff erence was not significant in gender or residence subgroups. Conclusion: HAV infection in Iran may be considered as low or very low. Th erefore, targeted vaccination of high-risk groups and more improvement in environmental sanitation would be the best preventive measure.