[Immunologic situation of hepatitis B in immigrants. Strategy for vaccination]

Background: The aim of this study was to know the prevalence of the hepatitis B virus markers of infection in immigrants, to explain the demographic factors determinant for the convenience of hepatitis B immunization and to evaluate the usefulness of previous screening based on the prevalence of infection.
Subjects and methods: Transversal descriptive study including 1,226 immigrants. Age, sex, birth place, serologic virus markers and vaccine convenience were analyzed. A logit model for each sex, the vaccination probabilities, contrasts related with a reference category and the odds ratios (OR) were estimated.
Results: 73.25% of immigrants were men. The mean of age was 29.57 (SD = 9.31) in men and 29.98 (SD = 13.89) in women. Men were mostly born in South Asia (32%) and women were in sub-Saharian Africa (35%). The probability of hepatitis B immunization convenience in both sex were 29.1% in those born in sub-Saharian Africa, and higher than 91.5% in those from America. This probability was higher than 85.8% up to twenty years old, and higher than 55.7% in older than forty. All zones showed a percentage of patients with hepatitis B immunization convenience greater than sub-Saharian Africa (OR +/- 2.4).
Conclusions: Age and birth place explain the convenience of hepatitis B immunization. In the American immigrants it would result more efficient the massive immunization, while in the sub-Saharian population it would be better a previous screening because the prevalence of hepatitis B virus markers of infection is very high. Probability of hepatitis B immunization convenience decreases as age increases.