title: Prevalence and trend of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the main causative agent of post-transfusion hepatitis. The virus is distributed worldwide with varying prevalence in different countries, which could easily lead to chronic infections, cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to investigate prevalence of HCV infection and its trend in Iranian blood donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literatures on the HCV prevalence among blood donors in Iran were acquired through searching PubMed, Magiran, IranMedex, Scientific Information Databank, and Google databases. All the potentially relevant papers were reviewed independently by two investigators by assessing the eligibility of each paper and abstracting data. Prevalence was calculated using random effects model for meta-analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-eight studies with total samples of 10,739,221 persons from 1996 to 2011 were combined and meta-analyzed, the pooled prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors in Iran provinces and cities was 0.5% (95% CI: 0.4-0.6%). Trend of HCV infection was decreasing in recent years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides a comprehensive and reliable data on the prevalence and trend of HCV infection among blood donors and may be helpful in providing insight into disease burden and opportunities for prevention. In comparison with countries in this geographic region, Iran has the lowest rate of HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Mazaher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khodabandehloo
authors.affiliation: Kurdistan Research center for Social Determinants of Health (KRSCSDH), Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Daem
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roshani
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Injuries Research Center, Department of Social Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
authors.forename: Kourosh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sayehmiri
keywords: Blood donors; Iran; hepatitis C virus; prevalence; seroepidemiology; transfusion