Prevalence of blood-borne viruses and hepatitis B vaccination status among haemodialysis patients in Central Australia

OBJECTIVE: A cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of blood-borne viruses and hepatitis B vaccination status in haemodialysis patients in Central Australia. METHODS: Our study comprised 366 Aboriginal and 1 non-Indigenous Australian in Central Australia who had commenced haemodialysis between January 1996 and December 2019. RESULTS: Chronic hepatitis B infection was seen in 8.4% of patients, and serological evidence of human T-lymphotropic virus 1 in 28.3% of patients. The prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C was less than 1%. The vaccine status of all 182 patients who had received the hepatitis B vaccine was reviewed. Vaccine response was seen in 72.2% of patients who had received the vaccine at birth or in early childhood. There were 99 patients aged 20 years and older who had received hepatitis B vaccines before their haemodialysis commenced. Vaccine response was observed in 88.9% of these patients. A seroconversion rate of 78.5% was achieved in vaccine naïve patients who received the hepatitis B vaccine after their haemodialysis commenced. CONCLUSION: The response to the hepatitis B vaccine among haemodialysis patients in Central Australia was suboptimal and variable. The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection declined after the universal hepatitis B vaccination was introduced in 2000.