Abstract
This systematic review aimed at estimating chronic hepatitis B (HBV) and C virus (HCV) prevalence in the European Union (EU) and Economic Area (EEA) countries in the general population, blood donors and pregnant women. We searched PubMed©, Embase© and Cochrane Library databases for reports on HBV and HCV prevalence in the general population and pregnant women in EU/EEA countries published between 2005 and 2015. Council of Europe data were used for HBV and HCV blood donor prevalence. HBV general population estimates were available for 13 countries, ranging from 0·1% to 4·4%. HCV general population estimates were available for 13 countries, ranging from 0·1% to 5·9%. Based on general population and blood donor estimates, the overall HBV prevalence in the EU/EEA is estimated to be 0·9% (95% CI 0·7-1·2), corresponding to almost 4·7 million HBsAg-positive cases; and the overall HCV prevalence to be 1·1% (95% CI 0·9-1·4), equalling 5·6 million anti-HCV-positive cases. We found wide variation in HCV and HBV prevalence across EU/EEA countries for which estimates were available, as well as variability between groups often considered a proxy for the general population. Prevalence estimates are essential to inform policymaking and public health practice. Comparing to other regions globally, HBV and HCV prevalence in the EU/EEA is low.
Highlights
We updated a previous systematic review undertaken by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in 2009 [18] with the aim to assess any changes and estimate the current prevalence of chronic HBV and HCV infection in European Union (EU)/Economic Area (EEA) countries in the general population, blood donors and pregnant women
The results of the search were shared with ECDC National Focal Points (NFP) for viral hepatitis in all 31 EU/EEA Member States (MS) in May 2015 for review and to validate the list of included references for their country
While all 55 full texts were available for pregnant women, three general population articles could not be retrieved
Summary
Both hepatitis B (HBV) and C virus (HCV) affect the liver and can cause acute and chronic hepatitis. People virus to others and are at risk of developing serious liver disease such as cirrhosis or hepatocellular cancer (HCC) [1, 2]. An estimated 184 million people globally have chronic HCV infection [9] and 350 000–500 000 deaths are attributable each year to HCV-related liver diseases [8]. 35 321 newly diagnosed HCV infection cases were reported from 28 MS, a crude rate of 8·8 cases/100 000 population in the EU/EEA [11]. We updated a previous systematic review undertaken by ECDC in 2009 [18] with the aim to assess any changes and estimate the current prevalence of chronic HBV and HCV infection in EU/EEA countries in the general population, blood donors and pregnant women. We reviewed the availability, quality and geographical coverage of HBV and HCV prevalence data in the region in view of designing and monitoring future prevention and control initiatives
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