Intermediate hepatitis C virus (HCV) endemicity and its genotype distribution in Myanmar: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

Comprehensive details on Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Myanmar are lacking. This study determined the prevalence of HCV antibodies and ribonucleic acid (RNA) and the distribution of HCV genotypes across different populations in Myanmar from 1990 to 2023.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A systematic search in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and local journals identified studies reporting on HCV antibodies, RNA, and genotypes, excluding clinical research related to liver disease prognosis. Screening and data extraction was done by two authors and study populations were categorized into low-risk, high-risk, liver disease patients, and refugees outside the country. The pooled prevalence was performed by Dersimonian and Laird method using the R program. The publication bias was shown by funnel plot, the Egger test was used to assess the symmetry of the plot, and the heterogeneity was examined by the Cochran Q test and I2 index.

RESULTS

Out of 135 reports screened for eligibility, 35 reports comprising 51 studies were included in which 33 studies provided data on HCV seroprevalence in 685,403 individuals, 8 studies reported HCV RNA prevalence in 25,018 individuals, and 10 studies examined HCV genotypes in 1,845 individuals. The pooled seroprevalence of HCV among low-risk, high-risk, liver disease patients and refugees were 2.18%, 37.07%, 33.84%, and 2.52% respectively. HCV RNA-positive rates in these groups were 1.40%, 5.25%, 24.96%, and 0.84% respectively. Seroprevalence studies showed publication bias (Egger test, p = 0.0001), while RNA studies did not (Egger test, p = 0.8392). HCV genotype 3 was predominant in all sub-groups in Myanmar.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows Myanmar has intermediate HCV endemicity with lowest HCV prevalence of 2.18% in low-risk groups and highest prevalence of 37.07% in high- risk groups. However, the findings highlight the need for further epidemiological studies to understand actual disease burden and implement effective countermeasures to achieve the WHO's goal of HCV elimination by 2030.