SynthesisBMC infectious diseases2019
Prevalence of hepatitis C infection among the general population and high-risk groups in the EU/EEA: a systematic review update.
Synthesis in BMC infectious diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Hepatitis C distribution across diverse population groups in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: An umbrella review.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- Hepatitis C Infection and Treatment among Injecting Drug Users Attending General Practice: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Population-Based Testing for Undiagnosed Hepatitis C: A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations.Applied health economics and health policy · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Health State Utility Values Used in European Pharmacoeconomic Evaluations for Chronic Hepatitis C: Impact on Cost-Effectiveness Results.Applied health economics and health policy · 2021Pooled it
- Low Prevalence of HCV Infection Among MSM in an Intervention for HCV Micro-Elimination in Rome Urges a Focus on High-Risk Behaviours.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Evaluating performance of the Bioline™ HCV point-of-care test in Ghana.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Hepatitis C in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy: Population-Wide Screening.Viruses · 2025Article
- Seroprevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B Virus, and Hepatitis C Virus Among People Who Use Drugs in Turkey.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- HCV Treatment Outcomes in PWID: Impact of Addiction History on SVR12.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Hospitalizations and deaths among people coinfected with HIV and HCV.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Primary healthcare as a strategy for eliminating hepatitis C: the METRIC toolkit.Primary health care research & development · 2024Article
- ReLink strategy in diagnosed-but-untreated hepatitis C-positive patients in Germany: report from a single center.Zeitschrift fur Gastroenterologie · 2024Article
- Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Europe.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Knowledge of, and attitude towards, the treatment of hepatitis C in people who inject drugs.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Trends in hepatitis C virus seroprevalence and associated risk factors among msm in Pakistan: insights from a community-based study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Evaluating hepatitis C cascade of care surveillance system in Tuscany, Italy, through a population retrospective data-linkage study, 2015-2021.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Gaps in HIV and Hepatitis C Testing Among 3486 HIV-Negative Men Who have Sex with Men in Spain in the Era of Highly Effective Antiviral Therapies.Journal of community health · 2024Article
- Prevalence of chronic HCV infection in EU/EEA countries in 2019 using multiparameter evidence synthesis.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Article
- Development and optimisation of a reception testing protocol designed to eliminate HCV in the UK prison population.JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough significant improvement in efficacy measured by a sustained virological response, the high acquisition costs of direct-acting antivirals limit the access for patients and influence the costs of healthcare resource utilisation in hepatitis C. It is important to have the latest estimates of prevalence, especially in high-risk groups, for cost of illness, cost-effectiveness and budget impact studies.
methodsOriginal studies on the estimates of the prevalence among general and high-risk groups in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) were retrieved from Medline and Embase for the period from 2015 to 2018. All included studies were evaluated for risk of selection bias and summarised together in a narrative form. Results from previous reviews and updated searches were compared per country among different populations, respectively.
resultsAmong the 3871 studies identified, 46 studies were included: 20 studies were used for the estimate of the general population; 3 for men who have sex with men (MSM); 6 for prisoners; and 17 for people who inject drugs (PWID). Compared with the results reported in previous systematic reviews, the updated estimates were lower than previously in most available countries. Anti-HCV general population prevalence estimates ranged from 0.54 to 1.50% by country. The highest prevalence of anti-HCV was found among PWID (range of 7.90-82.00%), followed by prisoners (7.00-41.00%), HIV-positive MSM (1.80-7.10%), HIV-negative MSM (0.20-1.80%), pregnant women (0.10-1.32%) and first-time blood donors (0.03-0.09%).
conclusionsOur study highlights the heterogeneity in anti-HCV prevalence across different population groups in EU/EEA. The prevalence also varies widely between European countries. There are many countries that are not represented in our results, highlighting the need for the development of robust epidemiological studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.