Serological evidence of hepatitis B virus exposure and vaccination coverage trends in health sciences students in Albania

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of study participants (n = 152)

Variable	n (%)
Gender
Female	129 (84.9)
Male	23 (15.1)
Age, years, mean ± SD	23.8 ± 5.7 (range: 19-51)
Age group
19-24	119 (78.3)
25-29	14 (9.2)
≥ 30	19 (12.5)
Study program
Bachelor of nursing	71 (46.7)
Bachelor of midwifery	44 (28.9)
Professional master’s	26 (17.1)
Scientific master’s	11 (7.2)
Residence
Rural	38 (25.0)
Urban	114 (75.0)

Table 2 Self-reported practices related to hepatitis B prevention and occupational exposure (n = 152), n (%)

Practice item	No	Yes	P value
Have you ever been screened for hepatitis B	127 (83.6)	25 (16.4)	< 0.001
Have you been vaccinated against hepatitis B	72 (47.4)	80 (52.6)	0.516
I always change gloves for each patient during blood taking	20 (13.2)	132 (86.8)	< 0.001
Have you ever had a needle-stick injury	54 (35.5)	98 (64.5)	< 0.001
I always report a needle-stick injury	50 (32.9)	102 (67.1)	< 0.001

Table 3 Registry-verified baseline hepatitis B vaccine doses received (n = 152)

Number of doses	n (%)
0 doses	15 (9.9)
3 doses	137 (90.1)

Table 4 Descriptive statistics for hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-hepatitis B surface antibody levels among participants with serology (n = 134)

Marker	Mean	SD	Min	Median	Q3	Max
HBsAg (COI)	0.25	0.08	0.07	0.27	0.33	0.39
Anti-HBs (IU/L)	253.2	225.5	2.0	215.5	324.8	1000.0

HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; HBs: Hepatitis B surface antibody; COI: Cut-off index; Min: Minimum; Max: Maximum.

Table 5 Distribution of participants by anti-hepatitis B surface antibody level category (n = 134)

Anti-HBs category (IU/L)	n
< 10	18
10-100	14
> 100	102
Total	134

HBs: Hepatitis B surface antibody.

Table 6 Anti-hepatitis B surface antibody level categories by participant characteristics (n = 134), n (%)

Variable	< 10	10-100	> 100	P value
Gender				0.507
Female	16 (14.2)	13 (11.5)	84 (74.3)
Male	2 (9.5)	1 (4.8)	18 (85.7)
Age group				0.905
19-24	15 (14.3)	12 (11.4)	78 (74.3)
25-29	1 (8.3)	1 (8.3)	10 (83.3)
≥ 30	2 (11.8)	1 (5.9)	14 (82.4)
Study program				0.622
Bachelor of nursing	8 (11.3)	9 (12.7)	54 (76.1)
Bachelor of midwifery	7 (24.1)	2 (6.9)	20 (69.0)
Professional master’s	2 (8.7)	2 (8.7)	19 (82.6)
Scientific master’s	1 (9.1)	1 (9.1)	9 (81.8)
Residence				0.643
Rural	5 (15.6)	2 (6.2)	25 (78.1)
Urban	13 (12.7)	12 (11.8)	77 (75.5)
Reported baseline HBV doses				0.876
0 doses	2 (13.3)	1 (6.7)	12 (80.0)
3 doses	16 (13.4)	13 (10.9)	90 (75.6)

HBV: Hepatitis B virus.

Table 7 Multivariable logistic regression predictors of protective immunity (anti-hepatitis B surface antibody ≥ 10 IU/L) (n = 134)

Predictor	B	SE	Z	P value	Adjusted OR	95%CI (lower)	95%CI (upper)
Knowledge score (per 1-point)	-0.218	0.134	-1.62	0.103	0.803	0.618	1.045
Age (per 1-year)	-0.144	0.074	-1.94	0.052	0.865	0.749	1.001
Not vaccinated (vs vaccinated)	-3.626	1.819	-1.99	0.046	0.026	0.001	0.942
Bachelor of midwifery (vs bachelor of nursing)	-1.963	0.539	-3.63	< 0.001	0.140	0.049	0.404
Professional master’s (vs bachelor of nursing)	-0.295	0.738	-0.39	0.689	0.744	0.175	3.155
Scientific master’s (vs bachelor of nursing)	0.540	1.161	0.47	0.641	1.717	0.178	16.63
Always report needlestick injury (yes vs no)	-0.603	0.546	-1.10	0.269	0.547	0.188	1.586
Male (vs female)	-0.197	0.677	-0.29	0.770	0.820	0.219	3.10

The intercept (constant) was omitted because it is included for model specification and is not intended for clinical interpretation. OR: Odds ratio; CI: Confidence interval.