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Successful HBV vaccination may protect against diabetes

In a cross-sectional study of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers found that hepatitis B virus infection vaccination was associated with a reduced odds of developing diabetes, as well as protected against diabetes if successful, according to published findings.

“HBV infection is a major global health threat with about 350 million chronic HBV infections worldwide. …The role that HBV plays in diabetes is less clear,” the researchers wrote. “Although the association with gestation diabetes has been reported, chronic HBV infection is not found to increase the risk of diabetes. … To investigate the role of HBV in diabetes, we examined the association of HBV vaccination history and HBV serology with diabetes in a representative U.S. population.”

Data of 15,316 adult patients with available HBV serology between 2005 and 2010 from the health survey were analyzed. Overall, the prevalence of HBV was 6.35% based on positive hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb), whereas the prevalence of positive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was 0.4%. “The prevalence of positive hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) was 19.66%. Among those with positive HBcAb, 6.28% were positive for HBsAg, while only 0.13% of HBsAb-positive patients were positive for HBsAg,” the researchers wrote.

According to the research, 4,063 patients with a history of receiving the HBV vaccination were included in the final analyses. Of these patients, only 39% of vaccinations were successful. Based on positive HBsAb and negative for both HBcAb and HBsAg, 2,320 patients (15.15%) were immunized based on HBV serology.

“To our knowledge, this is the very first study examining the role of HBV vaccination and immunization in diabetes in [a] large sample with multiple ethnic/racial groups,” the researchers wrote. “Although diabetes is also preventable with dietary change, physical activity, behavior modification, and various pharmacological interventions, the results of the present study may provide a new method of prevention via vaccination.”

The researchers found no association between HBV vaccination and diabetes (OR = 1.08; 95% CI, 0.96-1.23). Serology evidence of HBV immunization was associated with a reduced OR of diabetes (OR = 0.75; 95% CI; 0.62-0.9), according to the logistic regression analyses. Successful HBV vaccination was found to be associated with a reduced OR of diabetes (OR = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.52-0.84).

Among the patients immunized after vaccination, 6.72% had diabetes compared with 19.01% of patients without serological evidence of HBV immunization (P < .001).

“Since only a very small subset of subjects in this population were chronic HBV carriers (positive HBsAg, 0.4%), we were not able to conduct a meaning analysis of the odds of diabetes in the group with chronic HBV infection,” the researchers wrote.

The researchers concluded: “The results of this study suggest that successful HBV vaccination is associated with a reduced odds of diabetes by 33%. … An intervention trial is warranted before promoting a large scale application of HBV vaccination for prevention of diabetes.” – by Melinda Stevens

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.