Are healthcare workers immunized after receiving hepatitis B vaccination according to recommended guidelines? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Nowadays, it is believed that more than 240 million people worldwide are infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), associated with irreversible health-related consequences, represented by hepatic failure, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, and already are ranked as 15 cause of human death around the world.

Methods: A systematic review and a meta-analysis were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccination and immunization on health professionals against HBV. The review was registered at the PROSPERO database (CRD42017075643). A search for cross-sectional studies was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, BBO, Cochrane Library, and in the gray literature. The Effective Public Health Practice Project Modified Scale was used to evaluate the internal quality of the studies included.

Results: A total of 1865 articles were identified after the removal of duplicates. Of these, 790 studies remained after screening the titles and abstracts. Finally, ten studies remained after full-text reading for qualitative analysis, all of which were used in the meta-analysis. A significant difference was found in the vaccine protocol for health professionals immunized against hepatitis B, compared to those not immunized. The risk ratio was 7.37 (95% confidence interval = 3.92-13.83; < 0.00001).

Conclusion: This study showed that the vaccine protocol is effective in immunizing health professionals against hepatitis B.