Compliance with hepatitis B virus vaccination and risk of occupational exposure to blood and other body fluids in intensive care department personnel in Brazil

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine has been recommended to health care workers because of their frequent exposure to patient blood and other body fluid.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was done to determine the compliance with HBV vaccination, and the risk of occupational exposure to blood or other body fluids in intensive care unit (ICU) personnel (n=458) in Goiânia, Brazil.

Results: The vast majority (95.5%) of ICU personnel reported HBV vaccination. Among those who did not, housekeepers were statistically associated with nonvaccination (P<.05). They had a 19.1-fold (95% confidence interval: 2.07-444.5) greater risk of nonvaccination compared with physicians. A total of 220 participants reported an incident with biologic fluids. Physician and nursing staff had a higher risk for occupational exposure to blood, other body fluids, or both when compared with housekeepers.

Conclusions: This study showed a high frequency of HBV vaccination in ICU personnel in Brazil. Nevertheless, more efforts are necessary to increase compliance with vaccination in housekeepers. Physician and nursing staffs showed high risk of occupational exposure to blood, other body fluids, or both, ratifying the importance of continuous education programs concerning prevention of bloodborne pathogen transmission for all ICU personnel.