Yonsei Med J.  2000 Feb;41(1):40-48. 10.3349/ymj.2000.41.1.40.

Distribution of anti-HBs levels in Korean adults

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Clinical Pathology, Inje University School of Medicine, Seoul Paik Hospital, Korea. bmshin@unitel.co.kr
  • 2Department of Preventive Medicine, Inje University School of Medicine, Seoul Paik Hospital, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Exact titration of anti-HBs with mIU/mL unit is necessary in evaluating the success of HBV vaccination or in making a decision to increase the dose of HBV vaccination. Data of distribution of anti-HBs titers can contribute to cutting of public health costs by reducing unnecessary HBV booster doses. Moreover, anti-HBc is also an important marker for differentiation of vaccination-induced anti-HBs from infection-acquired anti-HBs. However, not much study about these subjects has been done in Korea. So we evaluated anti-HBs associated with anti-HBc and vaccination history. HBsAg and anti-HBs tests were done in 1,465 cases. The positive rates of HBsAg and anti-HBs were 4.5% and 74.6%, respectively. Anti-HBs positive rate was higher in the vaccinated group than that in the non-vaccinated group. The rates of anti-HBs positive cases with lower titers (10-< 100 mIU/mL) were 31.9%, while cases with higher titers (> or = 100 mIU/mL) were 68.1%. This suggested about 70% of anti-HBs-positive Korean adults (about 53% of the general adult population) have long-lasting immunity against HBV infection and may not require booster doses of HBV vaccination for a long time. Anti-HBs titers in the vaccine-induced anti-HBs group were higher than those in the infection-acquired anti-HBs group. No statistical differences were noted between male and female or among age groups. 25.7% of the HBsAg (-)/anti-HBs (-) group showed anti-HBc positive and HBV-DNA was detected in 11.1% among HBsAg (-)/anti-HBs (-)/anti-HBcAb (+) cases. Further study about post vaccination anti-HBs titer decay in Korean should be performed to help cut vaccination costs.

Keyword

Anti-HBs; titration; HBsAg; anti-HBc; HBV-DNA; Korean

MeSH Terms

Adult
Age Distribution
Aged
Female
Hepatitis B Antibodies/analysis*
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/immunology*
Hepatitis B Vaccines/therapeutic use
Human
Immunization
Korea
Male
Medical Records
Middle Age
Sex Distribution

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