Korean J healthc assoc Infect Control Prev.  2023 Dec;28(2):216-225. 10.14192/kjicp.2023.28.2.216.

Antibody Positivity Rates of Vaccine-preventable Diseases among New Healthcare Workers in a Teaching Hospital and Affecting Factors, 2019-2023

• Kim E
• Lee SJ
• Im JH
• Lee JS
• Baek J

• KMID: 2549949
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14192/kjicp.2023.28.2.216

Abstract

Background
Seroprevalence among health care workers is important in planning vaccination programs. We aimed to confirm the antibody positivity rates for vaccine-preventable diseases and the factors affecting the rates.
Methods
We performed a retrospective descriptive analysis using the health screening data of 1,948 new employees at a 901-bed hospital in Incheon from 2019 to 2023. For the antibodypositive group, we performed a multivariate analysis according to age, sex, and occupation.
Results
The median age of the 1,948 health care workers was 25 years, and 80.2% were female. Antibody positivity rates for hepatitis B virus, hepatitis A virus, varicella-zoster virus, measles virus, and rubella virus were 85.5%, 65.1%, 91.9%, 89.2%, and 83.7%, respectively. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for doctors, other health care workers, and office workers/technicians were 0.592, 0.306, and 0.077 for hepatitis B, and 0.578, 0.408, and 0.285 for hepatitis A, respectively, when compared with values for nurses. The adjusted ORs for hepatitis A were 2.025 and 14.794 among those aged 40-49 years and 50 years or older, respectively, compared with those aged 20-29 years. The adjusted ORs for those aged 30-39 years, 40-49 years, and 50 or more years were 2.366, 4.071, and 9.725 for varicella-zoster virus, and 3.599, 2.586, and 6.129 for measles virus, respectively, compared with those aged 20-29 years. The adjusted OR for rubella virus was 2.3 for those aged 30-39 years compared with those aged 20-29 years.
Conclusion
We confirmed differences in antibody positivity rates for each infectious disease according to age and occupation. These findings can be used for efficient employee vaccination planning in health care facilities.

Keyword

Vaccine-preventable diseases; Health care workers

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