Long-term immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine and impact of a booster dose on health care students

Accidental exposure to sharp instruments is an important problem for health care students. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the rate of immunity in health care students 2 decades after national neonatal hepatitis B (HB) vaccination.

All junior students attending medicine, nursing and midwifery schools were screened for anti-HBs. One dose of hepatitis B vaccine was offered to all participants who did not have antibodies to HB surface antigen (anti-HBs) of > 10 IU/L; then, they were tested for anti-HBs after a month. The participants were classified into 3 groups: postboosting nonimmune, postboosting immune, and preboosting immune. Chi square test and ANOVA were used for data analysis.

In the first step, 65.20% of participants did not show immunity, but after receiving a booster dose, only 6.0% remained nonimmune. The mean age of nonimmune students was significantly higher than that of students who had postboosting immune and preboosting immune status (p=0.001 and 0.002, respectively). Also, the mean injection time from last shot was higher in postboosting immune group compared to preboosting immune group (p<0.001). Also, prebooster anti-HBs level was significantly different among participants with suboptimal response and those who developed anamnestic response, indicating preserved immune memory (p=0.001).

High anamnestic response to HBV booster dose indicates sufficient immunity to HBV in the majority of health care students. However, identifying students who cannot respond to a booster dose of vaccine seems to be necessary at the beginning of health care courses.