The global epidemiology of viral-induced acute liver failure: a systematic review protocol

IntroductionThe burden of viral-induced acute liver failure (ALF) around the world still remains unclear, with little to no data collected regarding the disease incidence in general and synthesised data on the relative contribution of different viruses to the aetiology of ALF is missing in the field. The aim of this review is to estimate the burden (prevalence, incidence, mortality, hospitalisation) of ALF following infection HAV, HBV, HCV, HDV, HEV, EBV), HSV1, HSV2, VZV, parvo-virus B19, HPIVs, YFV, HVV-6, CMV, CA16 and/or HAdVs. Establishing the common aetiologies of viral-induced ALF, which vary geographically, is important so that: (1) treatment can be initiated quickly, (2) contraindications to liver transplant can be identified, (3) prognoses can be deterined more accurately, and most importantly, (4) vaccination against viral ALF aetiologies can be prioritised especially in under-resourced regions with public health risks associated with the relevant attributable diseases.Methods and analysisEBSCOhost, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of Science databases will be searched for relevant literature published and grey literature from 2009 up to 2019. Published cross-sectional and cohort studies will be eligible for inclusion in this review. Qualifying studies will be formally assessed for quality and risk of bias using a standardised scoring tool. Following standardised data extraction, meta-analyses will be carried out using STATA. Depending on characteristics of included studies, subgroup analyses and meta-regression analyses will be performed. This review will be reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.Ethics and disseminationNo ethics approval is required as the systematic review will use only published data already in the public domain. Findings will be disseminated through publication in a peer-reviewed journal.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42018110309