Chen HY, et al. - Via searching PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and China Knowledge Resource Integrated databases from January 1, 1977 to December 31, 2016, researchers analyzed the prevalence and burden of hepatitis D virus (HDV), a defective virus that completes its life cycle only with hepatitis B virus [HBV], infection in the global population. By using Der-Simonian Laird random-effects model, they analyzed data from a total of 40 million people to evaluate the prevalence of HDV. Investigators found that the overall prevalence of HDV was 0.98%. The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis indicated that about 10.58% HBsAg carriers (without intravenous drug use [IVDU] and high-risk sexual behaviour {HRSB}) have been coinfected with HDV, which is twofold of what was previously estimated. In addition, a substantially higher HDV prevalence in the IVDU and HRSB population was noted. There is a need to focus more on routine HDV screening and rigorous implementation of the vaccine program for HBV.