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HBV, HCV patients often lacked immunity, vaccination against HAV, HBV
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Among patients with chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, approximately 40% had no documented immunity or vaccination against hepatitis A or hepatitis B, according to recent study findings.
“The presently reported US population-based estimates demonstrate that a substantial proportion of chronic viral hepatitis patients remain susceptible to vaccine-preventable hepatitis A and hepatitis B infections,” the researchers wrote in Clinical Infectious Diseases. “These data reinforce the observation that efforts are needed to improve both antibody testing and subsequent vaccination for vulnerable populations of chronic viral hepatitis patients.”
Emily Henkle, PhD, MPH, of the Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland, and colleagues used data from the United States Chronic Hepatitis Cohort Study to evaluate immunity and vaccination against hepatitis A in patients with chronic HBV and against hepatitis A and hepatitis B in patients with chronic HCV. Immunity data were gathered from electronic lab records and vaccination data were extracted from medical and billing records.
There were 1,635 patients with chronic HBV and 59.8% had evidence of immunity or vaccination against hepatitis A. Another 7.5% of the cohort were negative for hepatitis A and unvaccinated, and 32.7% of patients were never tested for nor vaccinated against hepatitis A.
The study included 5,328 patients with chronic HCV infection; 56.3% of them had documented immunity or vaccination against hepatitis A. Another 12.4% of patients had tested negative and were unvaccinated, and 31.4% of the patients had not been tested for or vaccinated against hepatitis A. For hepatitis B, 3,150 patients (59.1%) with chronic HCV had evidence of immunity or vaccination, 18.8% tested negative and were unvaccinated, and 22.1% had not been tested for or vaccinated against hepatitis B.
“Given that chronic HBV and chronic HCV patients often do not receive optimal follow-up care, it may be appropriate to consider recommendations that target vaccination at diagnosis or before the development of more advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: One researcher has financial relationships with AbbVie Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CVS Caremark, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Novartis, Tibotec/Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
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