Hepatitis C virus infection and risk of coronary artery disease: A meta-analysis

Background: A few recent studies have demonstrated that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was associated with coronary artery diseases (CAD). However, there still existed studies did not confirm this correlation. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between HCV infection and CAD using a meta-analysis. Methods: Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane library databases were systemically searched. Data were extracted by two independent reviewers and pooled odds ratio (OR) and relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using the fixed and random effects models. Results: Eight cohort studies and six case-control and cross-sectional studies were enrolled in this meta-analysis. In the cohort studies, the overall RR and 95% CIs of HCV infection for CAD was 1.25, 1.12-1.40 in random effects model. For the case-control and cross-sectional studies, the overall OR and 95% CIs of HCV infection for CAD were 1.94, 1.58-2.38 in fixed effects model. No publication bias was found in this meta-analysis. Conclusions: This meta-analysis showed that HCV infection was a risk factor for CAD.