Spontaneous viral clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among people who inject drugs (PWID) and HIV-positive men who have sex with men (HIV+ MSM): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Daniel J Smith,Mayu Frank,Holly Hagan,Ashly E Jordan

doi:10.1186/s12879-016-1807-5

Daniel J Smith, Mayu Frank + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-016-1807-5

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Journal: BMC infectious diseases	Publication Date: Sep 5, 2016
Citations: 46	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: New York University

Abstract

BackgroundHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes significant morbidity and mortality among people who inject drugs (PWID) and HIV+ men who have sex with men (MSM). Characterizing spontaneous viral clearance of HCV infection among PWID and HIV+ MSM is important for assessing the burden of disease and treatment strategies in these populations.MethodsElectronic and other searches of medical literature were conducted. Reports were eligible if they presented original data from upper-middle- and high-income countries on laboratory-confirmed HCV infection and spontaneous viral clearance among PWID or HIV+ MSM. Pooled estimates of spontaneous viral clearance were generated using fixed-effect and random-effects models. Meta-regression examined potential predictors related to individual characteristics and research methodology.ResultsThe meta-analysis estimated that spontaneous viral clearance occurs in 24.4 % of PWID and 15.4 % of HIV+ MSM. In univariate meta-regression among PWID, male sex and age were significantly associated with spontaneous viral clearance, and in multivariate analysis, male sex and HIV positivity were predictors of spontaneous viral clearance; among HIV+ MSM no variables were found to affect spontaneous viral clearance.ConclusionThe variability in estimates of spontaneous viral clearance between HIV+ MSM and PWID suggests the impact of HIV co-infection and HCV re-infection. Due to limited data on additional factors that may affect the natural history of HCV, more research is needed to further understand spontaneous viral clearance in these risk groups.Protocol registrationThe protocols for the PWID and HIV+ MSM research were registered with PROSPERO (CRD42014008805; CRD42013006462).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-016-1807-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes significant morbidity and mortality among people who inject drugs (PWID) and Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)+ men who have sex with men (MSM)
Protocol registration: The protocols for the PWID and HIV+ MSM research were registered with PROSPERO (CRD42014008805; CRD42013006462)
This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that the prevalence of spontaneous viral clearance is higher among PWID compared to HIV+ MSM

Summary

Introduction

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes significant morbidity and mortality among people who inject drugs (PWID) and HIV+ men who have sex with men (MSM). Characterizing spontaneous viral clearance of HCV infection among PWID and HIV+ MSM is important for assessing the burden of disease and treatment strategies in these populations. Among people who inject drugs (PWID), high HCV incidence rates of 10–40 infections/100 person-years (PYs) contribute to a persistent and high population prevalence of 43–80 % [5,6,7]; as such, HCV is endemic among PWID [8]. HIV/HCV co-infection contributes to substantial, yet preventable, morbidity and mortality; liver disease progression is accelerated in HIV co-infected individuals [9, 10]. Co-infection with HIV and HCV is of considerable relevance to PWID as the majority of HIV-positive PWID are infected with HCV (50–70 %) [11]

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