Prevalence of hepatotoxicity among HIV-infected patients in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Globally, the human immunodeficiency virus has been recognized as a major public health concern. The direct toxicity of antiretroviral medicines or their active metabolites causes liver cell destruction by different mechanisms, inducing immune-mediated inflammation, oxidative stress, and other mechanisms. On the other hand, the virus itself also produces hepatotoxicity. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of hepatotoxicity among HIV-infected patients in Ethiopia. METHODS: PubMed, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and ResearchGate databases were used to find relevant articles. As well, various professional associations were searched to retrieve grey literature. The Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale was used to assess the quality of recruited studies. The data were extracted using Microsoft Excel, and the meta-analysis was carried out using STATA 14 software. I(2) and Cochran’s Q test were employed to assess the presence of heterogeneity between studies. A random effect model was used. The funnel plot and Egger’s statistics were used to assess publication bias. Moreover, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were also done. RESULTS: The pooled prevalence of hepatotoxicity among HIV patients in Ethiopia was 25.45% (95% CI = 20.06–30.84%). There was high heterogeneity, with an I(2) value of 93.7%. Subgroup analysis by HAART status showed a higher pooled prevalence of hepatotoxicity among HIV patients taking HAART (23.63%) than among HAART naive patients (7.29%). In subgroup analysis, the pooled prevalence of hepatotoxicity among HIV/Tb co-infected and HIV mono-infected patients was 26.3% and 17.94%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The current systematic review and meta-analysis showed a high prevalence of hepatotoxicity among HIV-infected patients. Therefore, regular monitoring of hepatotoxicity among HIV-infected patients is required in order to avoid liver damage and other complications. Systematic review registration PROSPERO (2022:CRD42022334704) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-022-07838-w.