الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection represents a major health problem, with 2 billion people infected worldwide and more than 400 million chronic carriers of HBV. Exposure to blood and body fluids is a major risk factor for development of HBV infection and it is a well established fact that in an unvaccinated individual, the risk of acquisition of HBV infection after single exposure of HBV infected blood or body fluid ranges from 6%-30%. Therefore health care workers (HCWs) are at high risk of HBV infection due to repeated exposure.).The risk of contracting hepatitis B by healthcare personnel is four times greater than that of the general adult population. The most important approach for the prevention of occupational HBV infection is the use of hepatitis B vaccine among health care workers (HCWs) at risk. This study was a retrospective and follow up study which was conducted at National Liver Institute participated in the study. The participants in the study were about 200 health care workers (45 physicians ,112 nurses,17 workers, 26 employees) included two groups: Group I : Health care workers from different departments at National Liver Institute hospital who were currently subjected to HBV vaccination standard schedule 0, 1and 6 months intra muscularly in the deltoid region. They were followed till completed their 3 doses Group II: Health care workers who completed their course of hepatitis B vaccine within one year ago . All participants were subjected to a predesigned questionnaire including the personal data , assessment exposure to risk of hepatitis B ,assessment of risk factors of non response to hepatitis B vaccine as: presence of immunosuppressant chronic diseases (e.g: Diabetes , Renal diseases), long term use of corticosteroids , long term treatment by radiation , smoking habit. Blood samples were collected from them within one to six months from the last dose after completing the standard vaccination and examined for antibodies to hepatitis B by ELIZA(Enzyme –Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay). In which samples with concentrations < 10 mIU/ ml were considered non responders to HBV vaccine while others with concentrations ≥ 10 IU/L were considered responders. The study revealed the following findings: The non responder rate to Hepatitis B vaccine among studied group was 9% there was a statistically significant association between older age and non response as 55.6% of non responders were above 30 years old. There was no statistically significant association between gender and response to HBV vaccine. There was a statistically significant association between higher BMI and non response as 94.4% of non responders were BMI above 30 . There was a significant association between having chronic diseases and non response to the hepatitis B vaccine, in which all HCV HCWs were non responders to vaccine. No statistically significant association was observed between long term corticosteroid therapy or smoking and non response to HBV vaccine . No statistically significant association was observed between potential exposure to risk factors of HBV infection and response HBV vaccine. from this study one can conclude that: Based on the findings of the present study, we can conclude that, the rate of non-response to Hepatitis B vaccine among studied group was 9%. Older age, high BMI, and presence of chronic diseases as HCV are the main risk factors non response among studied HCWs. Non responders HCWs to HBV vaccine who are working at a high risky place are in great risk. Therefore, it is crucial to check post vaccination HBsAb in all HCWs especially in risk groups of non-response to hepatitis B vaccine. This strategy will ensure safety at work by reducing nosocomial transmission and will have a cost effective impact at an individual as well as at national level.