title: Intrafamilial transmission of hepatitis C virus in Italy: a systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission is mainly due to parenteral exposure; however, in absence of such risk factor, there are reports of intrafamilial spread of HCV and observational studies suggest an increased risk for households of infected subjects. The aim of our study was to systematically review and meta-analyse studies about HCV prevalence among households of HCV patients in Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed and Embase were searched to identify Italian studies about HCV intrafamilial transmission. Keywords used were: 'HCV', 'Hepatitis C', 'intrafamilial', 'family' and 'Italy'. Selected studies were reviewed to assess the quality and meta-analysed using StatsDirect software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  25 studies were selected. The pooled overall prevalence was 9% (95% CI 7.1% to 11.1%). The highest pooled prevalence was found among sexual partners of index cases: 14.7% (95% CI 10.7% to 19.2%) globally and 9.9% (95% CI 3.6% to 18.8%) and 17.6% (95% CI 12.1% to 24%) in northern and central-southern regions, respectively. The meta-analysis of high-quality studies yielded the lowest HCV prevalence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To be a HCV patient household is a risk factor for HCV and counselling for these households should be provided.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Waure
authors.forename: Consuelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cefalo
authors.forename: Giacomina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chiaradia
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sferrazza
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miele
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gasbarrini
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grieco
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: La Torre
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D005190:Family; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012747:Sexual Partners