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Hepatitis A virus infections, immunisations and demographic determinants in children and adolescents, Germany
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Scientific Reports, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2018)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group UK, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Hepatitis A is a vaccine-preventable disease with a global distribution. It predominantly occurs in regions with inadequate living conditions, but also affects populations in industrialised countries. Children are frequently involved in the transmission of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and thus play a central role in the epidemiology of hepatitis A. Here, we investigated HAV infections, immunisations, and associated demographic determinants in a nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional survey conducted in Germany from 2003–2006. Out of 17,640 children and adolescents, complete data sets (HAV serology, demographic information and vaccination card) were available for 12,249 (69%), all aged 3–17 years. We found protective antibody levels (>=20 IU/L) in 1,755 (14%) individuals, 1,395 (11%) were vaccinated against hepatitis A, 360 (3%) individuals were HAV seropositive without prior hepatitis A vaccination, thus indicating a previous HAV infection. Antibody prevalence (attributable to vaccination or infection) increased significantly with age. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that predominantly children and adolescents with migration background–even if they were born in Germany–are affected by HAV infections. Our results provide a rationale to emphasise existing vaccination recommendations and, moreover, to consider additional groups with a higher risk of infection for targeted vaccination, especially children with a migration background.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
Epidemiology
Cross-sectional study
030231 tropical medicine
lcsh:Medicine
Article
Serology
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Risk Factors
Germany
Prevalence
Medicine
Humans
ddc:610
030212 general & internal medicine
Viral hepatitis
lcsh:Science
Child
Multidisciplinary
business.industry
Transmission (medicine)
Risk of infection
lcsh:R
Vaccination
Hepatitis A
medicine.disease
Cross-Sectional Studies
Logistic Models
Risk factors
Socioeconomic Factors
Viral infection
Child, Preschool
lcsh:Q
Female
Hepatitis A virus
610 Medizin und Gesundheit
business
Demography
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 8
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....68a43aaac8dbac7ab864734d61661c74