Persistence of Anti-Hbs after up to 30 Years in Health Care Workers Vaccinated against Hepatitis B Virus

The burden of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious public health problem all over the world. Vaccination remains the most effective prevention measure, and safe and effective HBV vaccines have been available since 1982. Health care workers (HCWs) vaccinated against HBV and prospectively followed up for at least 14 years were classified by their antibody titers after primary vaccination as: poor responders (10-99 mIU/mL); moderate responders (100-999 mIU/mL); and good responders (>= 1000 mIU/mL). The incidence of antibody loss was calculated for 1000 person-years and the anti-HBs persistence was calculated. The analysis concerned 539 HCWs: 494 good responders (91.7%); 37 moderate responders (6.9%); and eight poor responders (1.5%). The incidence of anti-HBs loss was 52.1 per 1000 person-years for the poor responders, 11.3 per 1000 person-years for the moderate responders, and 1.4 per 1000 person-years for the good responders. The mean persistence of anti-HBs differed significantly between the three groups, being: 19.2 years (95% CI: 15.6-22.8), 25.4 years (95% CI: 23.0-27.9), and 31.0 years (95% CI: 30.5-31.5) for the poor, moderate and good responders, respectively. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate a good persistence of protective anti-HBs titers in HCWs exposed to occupational risk for up to 30 years after a primary vaccination cycle (even without a booster dose) if their titer was initially higher than 100 mIU/mL.

Automated summary

Vaccination is the most effective measure to prevent hepatitis B, and this study found that healthcare workers exposed to occupational risk for hepatitis B have long-term protective antibody titers after receiving HBV vaccines, especially if their initial titer was above 100 mIU/mL.