The Prevalence of Hepatitis C Infection in Blood Donors: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the major bloodborne diseases worldwide. Although many screening tests were introduced and utilized for blood donations, as the main source of HCV transmission, it has still remained a global concern.

The prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors in every country and every WHO region was investigated. A Comprehensive electronic systematic search algorithm in the international databases PubMed, ISI, Scopus, and ProQuest were adopted for articles published until October 2016, using the following keywords: ("Blood Donors" OR "blood donation" OR "donor" OR "donation" OR "blood" OR "blood safety" OR "bloodborne" OR "residual risk" OR "transfusion-transmitted infections") AND ("prevalence" OR "epidemiology") in combination with “hepatitis C” OR “HCV” for hepatitis C. Only cross-sectional studies, which had appropriate measurement and sampling methods, were selected.

The review of the literature showed that the global prevalence of HCV was 854.09 in 100,000. The highest and lowest rates of HCV among WHO divisions were seen in the African region by 2503.61 and the European region by 450.21 in 100,000, respectively. The highest and lowest rates among the countries were seen in Cambodia by 14,670 and Netherlands by 25.370 in 100,000.

It seems that strategies for prevention of HCV infection in blood donations should be considered for the policymakers; low prevalence countries are suggested to share their knowledge and countries with lower socioeconomic status should be aided to control the HCV infection among their blood donors.