Prevalence of tuberculosis, hepatitis C virus, and HIV in homeless people: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Summary Background 100 million people worldwide are homeless; rates of mortality and morbidity are high in this population. The contribution of infectious diseases to these adverse outcomes is uncertain. Accurate estimates of prevalence data are important for public policy and planning and development of clinical services tailored to homeless people. We aimed to establish the prevalence of tuberculosis, hepatitis C virus, and HIV in homeless people. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature for studies of the prevalence of tuberculosis, hepatitis C virus, and HIV in homeless populations. We also searched bibliographic indices, scanned reference lists, and corresponded with authors. We explored potential sources of heterogeneity in the estimates by metaregression analysis and calculated prevalence ratios to compare prevalence estimates for homeless people with those for the general population. Findings We identified 43 eligible surveys with a total population of 63 812 (59 736 homeless individuals when duplication due to overlapping samples was accounted for). Prevalences ranged from 0·2% to 7·7% for tuberculosis, 3·9% to 36·2% for hepatitis C virus infection, and 0·3% to 21·1% for HIV infection. We noted substantial heterogeneity in prevalence estimates for tuberculosis, hepatitis C virus infection, and HIV infection (all Cochran's χ2 significant at p