Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2021 May 4;17(5):1342-1346. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2020.1818523. Epub 2020 Oct 5.
Healthcare workers (HCWs) have an increased risk to be exposed to infectious diseases compared to the general population. For this reason, according to the National Immunization and Prevention Plan, all HCWs should have demonstrable evidence of immunity to measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and Hepatitis B. Earlier studies have already shown that a large percentage of Italian operators lacked immune protection for one or more of those pathogens.The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunization status for vaccine-preventable diseases of HCWs in a large Italian teaching hospital. We retrospectively evaluated clinical records and serological data of HCWs who followed the occupational health surveillance program between January 1 and December 31 2019. We reviewed the clinical records of 1,017 HCWs: 393 males and 624 females with a median age of 35.69 y (range: 19-67). Protective IgG antibody values were documented in the 88.0%, 75.7%, 90.3%, 87.4% and 85.7% of the HCWs screened, respectively, against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and Hepatitis B. Age was significantly related to serological protection against measles, mumps and varicella but was not significantly related to protective IgG levels for rubella and HBV.Female gender was significantly related to a higher protection rate against Hepatitis B (87.8 vs 82.4%; < .01) whereas males were significantly more protected against varicella (92-4 vs 84.1%; < .01).Our study shows suboptimal levels of protection among Italian HCWs and a consequent increased risk of infection for them and their patients. Public health policies should be focused on improving preventive strategies, including serological screening and workplace vaccination of nonimmune individuals.
与普通人群相比，医护人员（HCWs）接触传染病的风险增加。出于这个原因，根据国家免疫和预防计划，所有 HCWs 都应具有针对麻疹、腮腺炎、风疹、水痘和乙型肝炎的免疫证明。早期研究已经表明，很大一部分意大利医务人员对一种或多种病原体缺乏免疫保护。本研究旨在评估一家大型意大利教学医院 HCWs 对可通过疫苗预防的疾病的免疫状况。我们回顾性评估了 2019 年 1 月 1 日至 12 月 31 日期间参加职业健康监测计划的 HCWs 的临床记录和血清学数据。我们审查了 1017 名 HCWs 的临床记录：393 名男性和 624 名女性，中位数年龄为 35.69 岁（范围：19-67 岁）。分别在 88.0%、75.7%、90.3%、87.4%和 85.7%接受筛查的 HCWs 中记录了保护性 IgG 抗体值，分别针对麻疹、腮腺炎、风疹、水痘和乙型肝炎。年龄与针对麻疹、腮腺炎和水痘的血清学保护显著相关，但与针对风疹和乙型肝炎的保护性 IgG 水平无显著相关性。女性性别与乙型肝炎的更高保护率显著相关（87.8%比 82.4%；<0.01），而男性对水痘的保护率显著更高（92-4%比 84.1%；<0.01）。我们的研究表明，意大利 HCWs 的保护水平不理想，因此他们及其患者感染的风险增加。公共卫生政策应侧重于改善预防策略，包括对非免疫个体进行血清学筛查和在工作场所接种疫苗。
