Cardioprotective effect of antiviral therapy among hepatitis C infected patients: A meta-analysis

•Limited studies with conflicting results on antiviral therapy among HCV infected patients and its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is available.•This meta-analysis with the highest sample size shows that HCV-infected patients post-AVT have a significantly lower risk of any CVD, MI, ACM, and PAD compared with NAVT groups of patients.•The cardioprotective effect of this AVT can be helpful in reducing adverse cardiovascular outcomes and mortality associated with it. Hepatitis C (HCV) infections have been shown to be associated a with higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the use of antiviral therapy (AVT) and the risk of CVD has not been well established with limited literature. We sought to evaluate the association between AVT use post-HCV infection and cardiovascular outcomes. We performed a systematic literature search using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus for relevant articles from inception until 10th March 2023. Primary clinical outcomes were the incidence of any CVD. Secondary endpoints were all-cause of mortality, stroke, myocardial infarction, and peripheral artery disease. A total of 394,452 patients were included in the analysis (111,076 in the AVT group and 283,376 patients in the NAVT group). The mean age of patients among AVT and NAVT groups was comparable (58.7 vs 58.18). The pooled analysis of primary outcomes showed that AVT was associated with a significantly reduced risk of any CVD (HR, 0.55(95%CI: 0.41–0.75), P