Tengan FM, et al. – Researchers aimed at analyzing the articles on the prevalence of HBsAg in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) /AIDS (PLWHA) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Results highlighted the necessity for increasing the investment in preventive measures against hepatitis B, particularly when the impact of adequate vaccination in this population was considered. Future studies with larger sample sizes are required in LAC to assess the true prevalence of hepatitis B throughout the region and to clarify and address the risk factors associated with the acquisition of infection.

Methods

• The PubMed, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences, and Embase databases were searched for studies up to November 2016 on infection with HIV and HBV in LAC without period or language restrictions.
• Case reports, case series, review articles, comments, or studies with a sample size smaller than 100 were included.
• Evaluation of the quality of the articles using a list of criteria totaling 21 items was performed.

Results

• 28 articles (n = 18,457) published from 1999 to 2016 were selected, 18/28 studies (64.3%) were from Brazil, 3/28 (10.7%) were from Argentina, 2/28 (7.1%) were from Chile, 2/28 (7.1%) were from Cuba, 1/28 (3.6%) was from Colombia, 1/28 (3.6%) was from Venezuela, and 1/28 (3.6%) was from Jamaica.
• In this study, the mean score for the assessment of the study quality was 11.6 (range: 8–16).
• Among PLWHA in the selected studies, the estimated pooled prevalence of HBsAg was 7.0% (95% CI 7.0–7.0%).
• In the studies published from 1999 to 2006, the pooled prevalence of HBsAg was 8.0% (95% CI 8.0–9.0%) and it was 6.0% (95% CI 5.0–6.0%) in the studies published during the later timeframe.