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| Year : 2011 | Volume
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| Issue : 4 | Page : 808-809 |
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| Epidemiology of hepatitis C in the Middle East: All available data |
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Seyed Moayed Alavian, Seyed Yasser Saiedi, Seyed-Hosein Alaei
Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Baqiyatallah Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, Tehran, Iran
Click here for correspondence address and email
| Date of Web Publication | 9-Jul-2011 |
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How to cite this article:
Alavian SM, Saiedi SY, Alaei SH. Epidemiology of hepatitis C in the Middle East: All available data. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl 2011;22:808-9 |
How to cite this URL:
Alavian SM, Saiedi SY, Alaei SH. Epidemiology of hepatitis C in the Middle East: All available data. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl [serial online] 2011 [cited 2021 Feb 26];22:808-9. Available from: https://www.sjkdt.org/text.asp?2011/22/4/808/82716 |
To the Editor,
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major global public health problem in both developed and developing countries. [1] From the period toward the end of the 20 th century, HCV has emerged as one of the common causes of chronic liver disease and is likely to remain so. [2] There are many sporadic articles available about the epidemiology of hepatitis C in every country, but there is no comprehensive article about this in the Middle East region. We need review articles like that of Fallahian et al [3] and meta-analysis to combine the results. As we know, meta-analyses are fundamental tools for collating and synthesizing large amounts of information and we do the statistical analysis of a large collection of analysis results from individual studies for the purpose of integrating the findings. For writing a review article, firstly we should collect all the available data about our subject from all databases and we should write about our search method and engine. It seems there were some articles that Fallahian et al could have used in their article. In a systematic review, prevalence rate of hepatitis C infection in Iran was 0.16% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0-0.59%]. [1] Nearly 32% (95% CI: 31-33) of hemodialysis patients in the countries under Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of WHO (EMRO) are infected with HCV. [4] Middle East is a geographical region with no clear definition, but EMRO consists of 22 countries of which many are in the Middle East region. In Iraq, Fallahian et al reported a prevalence rate of 7.1% anti-HCV antibody in the general population, but actually their reference [5] quoted the rate among hemodialysis patients. Also, in Qatar, there was a population-based study that they could use in which Rikabi et al report a prevalence of 29.4% HCV infection among chronic liver disease patients. It is clear that we should search more when we want to talk about the epidemiology of a disease in a region like Middle East. We have some advice that may be useful for further review articles:
- Search for specific key words like HCV, hepatitis C with the name of Middle East countries in electronic databases such as Medline, Scopus and ISI to collect all published data in this region.
- Do the meta-analysis on the collected data and write the article in a systematic review format.
[6]
 References | |  |
| 1. | Alavian SM, Ahmadzad Asl M, Lankarani KB, Shahbabaie MA, Bahrami Ahmadi A, Kabir A. Hepatitis C Infection in the General Population of Iran: A Systematic Review. Hepat Mon 2009;9(3):211-23. 
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| 2. | Cheney CP, Chopra S, Graham C. Hepatitis C. Infect Dis Clin North Am 2000;14(3):633-67.
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| 3. | Fallahian F, Najafi A. Epidemiology of hepatitis C in the middle east. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl 2011;22(1):1-9.
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| 4. | Alavian SM, Tabatabaei SH, Mahboobi N. Epidemiology and risk factors of HCV infection among hemodialysis patients in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of WHO (EMRO): a quantitative review of literature. J Public Health (Oxf) 2010:1-13.
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| 5. | Khattab OS. Prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection in hemodialysis patients in an Iraqi renal transplant center. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl 2008;19(1):110-5.
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| 6. | Rikabi A, Bener A, Al-Marri A, Al-Thani S. Hepatitis B and C viral infections in chronic liver disease: a population based study in Qatar. East Mediterr Health J 2009;15(4):778-84.
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Correspondence Address:
Seyed Moayed Alavian
Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Baqiyatallah Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, Tehran
Iran
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PMID: 21743238 
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| This article has been cited by | | 1 |
Seroprevalence of hepatitis C infection among laboratory health care workers in Isfahan, Iran |
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| Shoaei, P. and Lotfi, N. and Hassannejad, R. and Yaran, M. and Ataei, B. and Kassaian, N. and Foroughifar, M. and Adibi, P. | | International Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2012; 3(4) | | [Pubmed] | |
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