Abstract
Beta-thalassemia major patients are the leading consumers of blood transfusions in
Pakistan and, therefore, have a greater risk of acquiring transfusion-transmitted
infections, most notably hepatitis B and C virus (HBV and HCV). The present study
includes a comprehensive review on the status of HBV and HCV in beta-thalassemia major
patients in Pakistan. For this purpose, we examined original articles assessing the
epidemiology of HBV and HCV in transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients.
We searched 10 major subscription databases from January through February 2020, that
is, Medline, PakMediNet, CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Science Direct,
Google Scholar, and Directory of Open Access Journals. The World Health Organization
resources were also explored for relevant reports. The search criteria included published
articles up to December 31, 2019, with no language restrictions. Articles identified
were introduced into the Endnote version X9 software and then screened for relevance
and duplication. The results were stated as the pooled prevalence for the overall
study and also for region-wise subgroups.
A total of 33 studies conducted from 1995 to 2019 were included in the review. All
33 articles yielded information on HCV prevalence, while 19 of them provided information
on HBV prevalence. The overall sample size was 8,554 that tested the prevalence of
HCV in thalassemia patients. The sample size from the 19 studies that tested the prevalence
of HBV was 6,184. The overall pooled prevalence of HBV was computed to be 4.13%, while
the pooled prevalence of HCV was 29.79%. The majority of the studies were obtained
from the Punjab Province (33.33%), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (24.24%).
The total sample size of 33 studies was less than 10% of the total number of estimated
thalassemic patients, that is, 100,000. Further studies or a national baseline survey
are imperative to confirm the actual frequency of HBV and HCV in thalassemia patients
across the country.
Keywords
- thalassemia - hepatitis B - hepatitis C - epidemiology - Pakistan
