Hepatitis B vaccine immunogenicity in Kerman 12 months infants

Infection with HBV is the most common chronic viral infection and mortality in children. Prevention of this infection with vaccination is vital. This study was done to compare the antibody level in post hepatitis B vaccination in children with 12 months of age.
This descriptive study was carried out on 120 healthy children with 12 months of age who had not infected with hepatitis B infection in Kerman, Iran during 2014. Gender, body weight, birth weight, gestational age were recorded for each child. Hepatitis B antibody level was measured with ELISA method. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16.
Antibody level was high- protective for 81.7% of children, low-responders for 13.3% and no-protective level for 13.3% of children in our study. For 86.9% children over 2500 kg of birth weight the antibody level was highly protective in comparison with 57.1% of fewer than 2500 kg of birth weight. This difference was significant. There was no significantly correlated with gender, bodyweight, and gestational age and antibody level. The family history for hepatitis B infection was negative for all samples.
This study showed that the 95% of children have adequate levels of anti-HBs (≥ 10 IU/L) after vaccination. In addition, immune response was higher in normal birth weight children.