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Table 1 Results of the meta-analyses for hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in the general population across provinces of Pakistan

From: Characterization of the hepatitis C virus epidemic in Pakistan

Province

Studies

Samples

HCV prevalence

Pooled HCV prevalence estimate

Heterogeneity measures

Population size[36, 37]

Estimated number of HCV Ab positive persons

Estimated number of HCV chronically- infected persons

Total N

Total n

Range (%)

Median (%)

Mean (%)

95% CI

Q (p-value)a

I2 (confidence limits)b

Prediction interval (%)c

Azad Kashmir

3

9668

1.0–6.6

6.1

5.8

4.5–7.1

9.1 (p < 0.01)

77.9% (28.7–93.2%)

0.0–26.8

4,045,366

234,631 (182,042-287,221)

158,306 (122,823-193,788)

Balochistan

8

10,952

1.5–20.8

5.1

5.8

2.9–9.5

309.6 (p < 0.01)

97.7% (96.8–98.4%)

0.0–23.0

12,344,408

715,976 (357,988-1,172,719)

483,069 (241,534-791,233)

F.A.T.A

2*

11,643

0.4–1.6

–

0.9

0.1–2.4

–

–

–

5,001,676

45,015 (5002-120,040)

30,372 (3375-80,991)

Islamabad Capital Territory

5

83,642

1.7–24.6

4.8

6.9

2.6–13.0

1109.8 (p < 0.01)

99.6% (99.5–99.7%)

0.0–38.5

2,006,572

138,453 (52,171-260,854)

93,415 (35,200-175,998)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

30

255,708

0.9–73.4

6.0

6.6

5.6–7.7

1942.8 (p < 0.01)

98.5% (98.3–98.7%)

2.2–13.1

30,523,371

2,014,542 (1,709,309-2,350,300)

1,359,212 (1,153,271-1,585,747)

Punjab

64

718,771

0.0–23.8

5.2

5.6

4.5–6.8

25,417.1 (p < 0.01)

99.8% (99.7–99.8%)

0.1–18.2

110,012,442

6,160,697 (4,950,560-7,480,846)

4,156,622 (3,340,143-5,047,327)

Sindh

58

687,812

0.4–51.0

5.2

7.0

5.8–8.3

17,830.5 (p < 0.01)

99.7% (99.7–99.7%)

0.7–19.0

47,886,051

3,352,024 (2,777,391–3,974,542)

2,455,463 (2,067,758-2,907,785)

Pakistanǂ

182

2,099,434

0.0–73.4

5.2

6.1

5.5–6.7

49,464.9 (p < 0.01)

99.6% (96.6–96.6%)

0.8–15.7

211,819,886

12,921,013 (11,650,094-14,191,932)

8,717,808 (7,860,318-9,575,297)

  1. Abbreviations: CI confidence interval, HCV hepatitis C virus, Ab antibody, F.A.T.A Federally Administered Tribal Areas
  2. aQ: Cochran Q statistic assessing the existence of heterogeneity in HCV prevalence estimates
  3. bI2: a measure assessing the magnitude of between-study variation that is due to difference in HCV prevalence estimates across studies rather than chance
  4. cPrediction interval: a measure estimating the 95% interval in which the true HCV prevalence in a new study will lie
  5. *Weighted average calculated as too few studies (< 3) to perform a meta-analysis
  6. Ç‚Excluding the province of Gilgit-Baltistan, as no HCV prevalence data nor population size data was available for this province