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. 2017 Oct 13;32(5):415–422. doi: 10.1007/s12250-017-4051-2

Prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus among intravenous drug users: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Qiwen Fang 1,2,#, Zhenqiu Liu 1,#, Zhijie Zhang 1, Yan Zeng 3,✉, Tiejun Zhang 1,4,✉
PMCID: PMC6598916  PMID: 29038977

Abstract

Intravenous drug users (IDUs) have been demonstrated to be highly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, the prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV), an important co-infected agent with HIV, among this population remained obscure. We conducted a systematic review on the epidemiological features of KSHV among IDUs worldwide. Eligible studies were retrieved from 6 electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CBM, CNKI and Wanfang). We calculated the pooled prevalence and 95% confidence interval (CI) overall and among subgroups using either random-effects model or fixed-effects model depending on between-study heterogeneity. The potential publication bias was assessed by the Egger’s test. A meta-regression analysis was performed to explore the sources of heterogeneity. Finally, twenty-two studies with a total sample of 7881 IDUs were included in the analysis. The pooled prevalence of KSHV was 14.71% (95% CI 11.12%–19.46%) among IDUs. Specifically, KSHV prevalence was 10.86% (95% CI 6.95%–16.96%) in HIV-negative IDUs, and 13.56% (95% CI 10.57%–17.38%) in HIV-positive IDUs. Moreover, prevalence among IDUs from the three continents involved in the current study was similar: 16.10% (95%CI 7.73%–33.54%) in Asia; 14.22% (95%CI 8.96%–22.57%) in Europe and 14.06% (95%CI 11.38%–17.37%) in America. Globally, IDUs are at higher risk of the KSHV infection when compared with the general population, regardless of geographical region or HIV-infection status. graphic file with name 12250_2017_4051_Fig1_HTML.jpg

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s12250-017-4051-2 and is accessible for authorized users.

Keywords: Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), prevalence, intravenous drug users (IDUs)

Electronic supplementary material

12250_2017_4051_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (1,023KB, pdf)

Prevalence of kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus among intravenous drug users: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (17ZR1401400), the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 81772170, U603117) and the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 20120071120050).

Footnotes

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Contributor Information

Yan Zeng, Email: yzeng910@163.com.

Tiejun Zhang, Email: tjzhang@shmu.edu.cn.

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Supplementary Materials

12250_2017_4051_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (1,023KB, pdf)

Prevalence of kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus among intravenous drug users: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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