Seropositivity for delta hepatitis in patients with chronic hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis in Turkey: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

Recent reports suggest a decline of delta hepatitis (DH) in the West as well as in the Far East.

AIM

To study the DH seroepidemiology in Turkey.

METHODS

Statistical power analysis was utilized based on data available in a recent article using prevalence figure estimates. Binominal distribution was applied in order to assess the number of samples required to estimate the prevalence with a given precision.

RESULTS

Out of 62 studies in the original study, 32 were eliminated because of insufficient power. A total of 6734 patients (5231 with chronic hepatitis and 1503 with cirrhosis) were analysed. Anti-HDV seropositivity among patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and hepatitis B-induced cirrhosis was lowest in the west of the country and highest in the southeast (5 vs. 27%, P<0.0001 and 20 vs. 46%, P<0.0001) respectively. Compared with data obtained before 1995, after 1995, DH prevalence in patients with CHB and cirrhosis decreased from 29 to 12% (P<0.0001) and from 38 to 27% (P=0.03) in central and southeast Turkey and from 38 to 20% (P<0.0001) and from 66 to 46% (P<0.002) in west and southeast Turkey respectively.

CONCLUSION

Despite the decrease of its prevalence in Turkey, DH remains a significant health problem in parts of the country with low socio-economic level.