INFLUENCE OF SMOKING ON IMMUNOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO HEPATITIS-B VACCINE

When 115 health-care workers participated in a study that monitored th eir serological responses to hepatitis B vaccine at regular intervals, it was found that smoking significantly affected their antibody title responses adversely. The study group was randomly allocated into two comparable groups that received hepatitis B vaccine either in a rapid schedule (vaccination at 0, 1, 2 and 12 months) or a standard schedule - most commonly used worldwide - (vaccination at 0, 1, and 6 months). A significantly higher proportion of smokers, in both schedules, fail ed to seroconvert and to achieve higher antibody levels at month 3 (p = 0.01) and at month 13 (p = 0.0003). At month 7 a similar pattern was noted in smokers following the standard vaccination schedule (p less than or equal to 0.05), but not in those following the rapid schedule.