Persistence of antibodies 5 years after hepatitis B vaccination in preterm birth children: A retrospective cohort study using real‐world data

Previous studies did not provide substantial evidence for long‐term immune persistence after the hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) in preterm birth (PTB) children. Consequently, there is ongoing controversy surrounding the booster immunization strategy for these children. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the disparities in immune persistence between PTB children and full‐term children. A total of 1027 participants were enrolled in this study, including 505 PTB children in the exposure group and 522 full‐term children in the control group. The negative rate of hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) in the PTB group was significantly lower than that in the control group (47.9% vs. 41.4%, p = .035). The risk of HBsAb‐negative in the exposure group was 1.5 times higher than that in the control group (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1–2.0). The geometric mean concentration (GMC) of HBsAb was much lower for participants in the exposure group compared to participants in the control group (9.3 vs. 12.4 mIU/mL, p = .029). Subgroup analysis showed that the very preterm infants (gestational age