Abstract
The World Health Assembly has called for the elimination of hepatitis B and C by 2030. As hepatitis B has no cure, the US strategy to eliminate hepatitis B has focused on prevention through vaccination. However, there are limited data on the trend in vaccine-associated immunity since the US implementation of universal infant hepatitis B vaccination. To compare self-reported hepatitis B vaccination coverage among children and adolescents with serologic evidence of immunity and infection in the US from 1999 to 2016. This population-based cross-sectional study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2016. US-born persons aged 2 to 18 years without missing hepatitis B serologic test results and with reported vaccination history were included. Data were analyzed from September 2017 to June 2018. The proportion of participants who reported complete vaccination for hepatitis B and who had positive serologic test results indicating immunity. Of 21 873 children and adolescents, 51.2%% were male, and the mean (SD) age was 10.6 (4.6) years. The survey reported that hepatitis B vaccination coverage increased significantly from 1999 to 2016 (from 62.6% [95% CI, 58.6%-66.4%] to 86.3% [95% CI, 82.9%-89.2%]; P < .001). Vaccine-associated immunity also increased from 1999 to 2016 among children aged 2 to 5 years (from 60.7% [95% CI, 48.8%-71.4%] to 65.2% [95% CI, 57.4%-72.3%]; P = .001) but decreased among children aged 6 to 10 years (from 64.6% [95% CI, 57.7%-70.9%] to 46.5% [95% CI, 39.1%-54.0%]; P < .001), adolescents aged 11 to 13 years (from 68.8% [95% CI, 58.1%-77.8%] to 26.2% [95% CI, 18.6%-35.5%]; P < .001), and adolescents aged 14 to 18 years (from 68.5% [95% CI, 62.9%-73.6%] to 15.6% [95% CI, 12.2%-19.8%]; P < .001). By birth year, serologic evidence of vaccine-associated immunity significantly decreased in the 1994-2003 NHANES birth cohort but not among those born between 1988 and 1993. Non-US-born children and adolescents did not show the same decreasing trend in immunity. In this cross-sectional study, decreasing hepatitis B immunity was observed among US-born children and adolescents in the 1994-2003 NHANES birth cohort despite increasing rates of hepatitis B vaccination coverage. These findings suggest a possible need for surveillance and a booster vaccine dose for hepatitis B as those without serologic evidence of immunity become young adults and may engage in behaviors associated with an increased risk for infection.
Highlights
Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is one of the most common liver diseases, affecting approximately 257 million people worldwide.[1,2] there is currently treatment to suppress the virus, there is no cure for CHB
The survey reported that hepatitis B vaccination coverage increased significantly from 1999 to 2016
Non-US–born children and adolescents did not show the same decreasing trend in immunity. In this cross-sectional study, decreasing hepatitis B immunity was observed among US-born children and adolescents in the 1994-2003 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) birth cohort despite increasing rates of hepatitis B vaccination coverage
Summary
Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is one of the most common liver diseases, affecting approximately 257 million people worldwide.[1,2] there is currently treatment to suppress the virus, there is no cure for CHB. Since the introduction of universal HBV vaccination in infants, completion of the 3-dose vaccine series has improved substantially among children aged 19 to 35 months in the US, from 68.0% in 1995 to 90.5% in 2016.4,5 the national rates of vaccination coverage were obtained through survey questionnaires and subjected to recall bias. Another approach is to confirm immunity status by serologic testing based on the assumption that reported vaccination should lead to immunity to hepatitis B
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