Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes among people in different regions, ethnic groups and transmission risk factors in China. Methods Papers on the studies of HCV genotypes in China were searched in Wanfang and NCBI database, and the data was classified by different regions, ethnic groups, and transmission risk factors. The data was analyzed by meta-analysis to observe the distribution of genotypes. Results In China, the HCV genotype 1 was the most prevalent, the HCV genotypes were mainly genotype 1 (52.7%-79.7%) and genotype 2 (13.9-44.9%) in the northern region, the HCV genotypes were mainly genotype 1 (51.7%-79%) in the southeast region, and the genotype 6 was widely distributed in Hong Kong (31.3%), Guangdong (23.1%), Fujian (21.8%) and Macau (20.6%); the HCV genotypes were mainly genotype 1 (19.7%-73.4%) and genotype 3 (13.4%-58.5%) in the southwest region; the main genotypes distributed in the western region were genotype 1 (53.6%-66.8%), genotype 2 (15.8%-32.1%) and genotype 3 (12.8%-15.8%); the proportion of genotype 2 in Korean nationality was (22.4%, P<0.001), in Uyghur(13.1%, P<0.001) and in Kazakh (18.5%, P<0.05), and the proportion of genotype 3 in Uyghur was 16.6%,significantly higher than 9.4% of the Han nationality 42.2%, significantly higher than that in Han (P<0.001); the proportion of genotype 3 in persons with intravenous drug use was 31.1%, significantly higher than with blood transmission infected (4.5%, P<0.001) or sexual transmission infected (24.1%, P<0.05), and the proportion of genotype 6 infection in intravenous drug users was 26.7% , significantly higher than by blood transmission infection (4.1%, P<0.001) or by sexual transmission infection (15.1%, P<0.001); the proportion of type 3 and type 6 in individuals with HCV/HIV mixed infection were higher than that in with HCV infection alone (all P<0.001). Conclusion There are differences in the distribution of HCV genotypes among individuals in different regions, in different ethnic groups and with different transmission routs.

Key words: Hepatitis C, Genotype, Distribution, Prevalence