Qom University of Medical Sciences Journal

Background and Objectives: Vaccination is one of the most important preventive method against hepatitis B infection, so recognizing effective factors in antibody response is of great importance. Hence, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the level of immunity against hepatitis B after hepatitis B vaccination and its relationship with epidemiological characteristics of health care providers in Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Qom City.

Methods: In this observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study, 235 health care providers of Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Qom were studied in 2013. The serum level of HBsAb was titrated by Microwen ELISA kit and titers less than 10ng/dl were considered as non-immune titer (negative) and titers greater than 10ng/dl as immune titer (positive). To collect data, demographic characteristics questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed using chi-square, t-, and Fisher’s tests. The significance level was considered to be 0.05.

Results: Totally, 235 patients participated in this study, of whom 123 subjects (52.3%) were male and 112 (47.7%) were female. 30 cases (12.8%) were not immune. Between factors older age, cigarette smoking, and high BMI was significantly associated with non-immune titers of the Ab (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Due to the significant antibody unresponsiveness in hospital personnel, especially in the elderly, obese, and smokers, more attention should be paid to the evaluation of HBsAb titer after vaccination of these subjects.