Fam Pract. 2019 Aug 3. pii: cmz039. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmz039. [Epub ahead of print]
Doses of hepatitis B revaccination needed for the seronegative youths to be seropositive to antibody against hepatitis B surface antigen.
Jan CF1,2, Liu TH1, Ho CH1, Chien YC3, Chang CJ1, Guo FR1, Huang KC1,2.
Author information
1
Department of Family Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
2
Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
3
Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
To determine the required hepatitis B vaccine doses for subjects who were seronegative for three hepatitis B seromarkers during their youth who wish to have seroprotective antibodies against the hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs).
METHODS:
We conducted a retrospective cohort study. From 2012 to 2015, graduate school students born after 1986 who were seronegative for three hepatitis B virus seromarkers at college entrance (n = 1037) were recruited. Four groups of subjects received zero to three doses of a hepatitis B vaccine booster at their free willingness, and their anti-HBs titre were measured at their graduate school entrance. Very low and extremely low antibody titres against the hepatitis B surface antigen were elucidated by graphic inference to determine the required booster dose cut-off value for seropositivity after revaccination.
RESULTS:
The anti-HBs seropositive rates in the four groups of subjects receiving the hepatitis B booster vaccine(s) were 17.7%, 52.1%, 78.6% and 90.9% for those receiving zero, one, two and three doses, respectively. In subjects with very low antibody titres against the hepatitis B surface antigen after one dose of the vaccine booster and subjects with an extremely low titre after two doses of the booster, the seropositive rates reached 95% at the cut-off value of 3 mIU/ml.
CONCLUSION:
A seropositive rate of at least 95% can be reached by the administration of two hepatitis B booster doses to youths with extremely low antibody titres against the hepatitis B surface antigen (<3 mIU/ml) and administering one dose to those with very low titres (3-10 mIU/ml) at college.