Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in both
adults and children in the United States today [
[1]
]. While achieving a healthy weight is optimal management of NAFLD and non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis (NASH), equally important is preventing secondary damage to the liver
that might accelerate liver fibrosis. Hepatitis B is one such preventable cause of
secondary liver damage and therefore prevention of hepatitis B has been a public health
priority. As this is most effectively done with vaccination against hepatitis B, hepatitis
B vaccination is part of the universal vaccination schedule for infants and children.
Unfortunately, obesity has been identified as a predictor of poor serologic antibody
development after hepatitis B vaccination [
2
,
3
]. The objective of this study was to determine the sero-prevalence of immunity against
hepatitis B in a cohort of consecutively evaluated paediatric NAFLD patients. We hypothesized
that positive hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) sero-prevalence would be low in
children with NAFLD, despite universal immunization practices in place against hepatitis
B.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- The natural history of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a population-based cohort study.Gastroenterology. 2005; 129: 113-121
- Hepatitis B vaccine immunoresponsiveness in adolescents: a revaccination proposal after primary vaccination.Vaccine. 1996; 14: 103-106
- Obesity as a predictor of poor antibody response to hepatitis B plasma vaccine.Journal of the American Medical Association. 1985; 254: 3187-3189
- A multidisciplinary clinical program is effective in stabilizing BMI and reducing transaminase levels in pediatric patients with NAFLD.Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. 2013; 57: 119-123
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 17, 2014
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
