Female Children Respond to Recombinant Hepatitis B Vaccine with a Higher Titre than Male

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Abstract
One-hundred and eighty Chinese children [age range 5 months to 12 years, seronegative for all hepatitis B vims (HBV) markers] of parents seropositive for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) were randomized to receive doses of either 10 or 20 µg of recombinant yeast-derived HBV vaccine at intervals of 0, 1, and 6 months. Six children defaulted and three other children (1.7 per cent) seroconverted to aoti-HBc positivity without detectable HBsAg in the serum. All other children attained an anti-HBs titre of > 10 mlU/ml after three doses. Both 10 and 20 µG/dose regime gare a similar geometric mean titre (GMT) of anti-HBs. Children aged 0–4 responded with a similar titre compared with children aged <4. Female children responded with a significantly higher GMT than male children and this was due to a high proportion of female children with higher peak titres. No major side-effects were encountered. We conclude that recombinant HB vaccine is highly immunogenic, well tolerated and equally effective with doses of both 10 and 20 µg and that girls responded with a higher anti-HBs titre compared with boys.

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