Hepatitis B vaccination in prison with a 3-week schedule is more efficient than the standard 6-month schedule.
A randomized study of injecting drug users in a Danish prison comparing vaccination at 0, 1 and 3 weeks with the 0, 1 and 6 months schedule (20microg Engerix B i.m.) was conducted. Due to a low participation rate, a second nonrandomized study was conducted in Estonia where all prisoners were vaccinated with the short schedule. In the randomized study, the compliance with three doses was 63% (12/19) in the 3-week schedule compared to 20% (3/15) in the 6-month schedule (P = 0.017). In the nonrandomized study, the compliance was 81% (457/566) and the seroprotection rate at month 7 was 67% (97/145), resulting in protection of 54% of the population at risk. This was significantly higher than the estimated 34-42% protection that would have been achieved with the 6-month schedule.
Christensen
Peer B
PB
Department of Medicine C, Section of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital, DK 5000 Odense C, Denmark. peer.christensen@dadlnet.dk
Fisker
Niels
N
Krarup
Henrik B
HB
Liebert
Elo
E
Jaroslavtsev
Nikolay
N
Christensen
Knud
K
Georgsen
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003718:Denmark; D004957:Estonia; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011329:Prisoners; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous; D014611:Vaccination; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology
C075654:Engerix-B; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic