EVALUATION OF THE FREQUENCY OF HEPATITIS B VACCINATION AND SOME OF THE RELATED FACTORS IN PHYSICIANS IN TEHRAN

Considering the importance of physicians in providing medical care to the patients and their direct involvement in invasive procedures which makes them vulnerable to hepatitis B, we decided to study the prevalence of hepatitis B vaccination and other related factors among physicians working in Tehran, Iran. Using stratified random sampling, 527 physicians (general practitioners and specialists) working in Tehran (2001) were selected and information pertaining to their vaccination status and other related factors was obtained via correspondence and telephone. Among physicians, 391 (74.1%) had a positive history of vaccination against hepatitis B. This prevalence was 70.1% in the male and 91.4% in the female physicians. The mean age was 41.4 years among the vaccinated physicians and 50.2 years among others. The mean number of years spent in profession was 13.1 years in the vaccinated physicians and 22.4 years in the rest of the subjects. The frequency of vaccination was 61.7% in the general physicians and 81.5% in the specialists. The most common factor (65.4%) for not being vaccinated was “inadequate knowledge about the places where vaccination was performed”. Of the vaccinated physicians, only 28.4% had checked their serum antibody titer after the last dose of the vaccine. The prevalence of hepatitis B vaccination among physicians in other studies is very different and considering those results, the prevalence rate in our study seems fair. The relation between hepatitis B vaccination and age, level of education, and duration of professional work showed that the physicians who had graduated more recently were vaccinated more often than others. Considering the results, we suggest that all physicians to be trained and informed more extensively about vaccination.