Evaluation of usefulness of hepatitis B vaccination at St. Marianna University School of Medicine Hospital and related facilities

Abstract

The Immunogenicity of hepatitis B (HB) vaccine was evaluated among 601 persons who were inoculated with HB vaccine. Seroconversion (SC) to HB surface antibody (HBsAb) was observed in 92.2% of the persons. Rate of SC tended to decrease with aging, and significant difference was observed between group aged 20-29 and group aged 19 or under (86.0% versus 96.1%: P<0.0001). Rate of SC in male was significantly lower than that in female (78.7% versus 97.5%: P<0.0001). In male, rate of SC in the group aged 20-29 was significantly lower than that in the group aged 19 or under (72.5% versus 91.7%: P=0.0411), while no obvious difference with aging was found in female. These results suggested that response to HB vaccination may be impaired in male and aged persons. Thus, HB vaccination should be done before 20 years old, especially in male, to acquire sufficient amount of HBsAb.