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. 2020 Aug 26;15(8):e0237398.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237398. eCollection 2020.

Response to hepatitis B virus vaccination in individuals with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Ashraf A Ashhab  1 , Holly Rodin  2 , Marilia Campos  3 , Ahmad Abu-Sulb  4 , Jane A Hall  2 , Jesse Powell  3 , Jose D Debes  3   5
Affiliations

Response to hepatitis B virus vaccination in individuals with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Ashraf A Ashhab et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Previous reports show conflicting results regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine efficacy in Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected individuals.

Aims: To evaluate HBV-vaccine response and identify possible factors that may contribute to lower vaccine efficacy in patients infected with HCV.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated all patients with chronic HCV infection at Hennepin County Medical Center, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, between 2002 and 2018. We addressed laboratory, liver-related, virus-related as well as vaccine-related variables, and their association to HBV vaccine response. Differences were tested using either a Chi-squared test or a T test to compare means between the two populations. Multivariate regression was modeled as a logistic regression.

Results: 1506 patients were evaluated, of which 525 received appropriate HBV vaccination and were assessed for response. Among those, 79% were vaccine responders and 21% were non-responders. On multivariate analysis, cirrhosis was associated with lower response to the vaccine (OR 0.6, CI 0.44-0.94). We found no significant differences for vaccine response in relation to smoking (87% vs 86%), IV drug abuse (74% vs 72%), Diabetes Mellitus (26% vs 22%) being on hemodialysis (2% vs.5%), or virus related variables.

Conclusion: HCV infection seems to impair HBV vaccine response, with cirrhosis being the only identifiable risk factor for hypo-responsiveness among studied clinical and virus-related variables.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Vaccine responders and non-responders involved in the final analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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