Vaccine-preventable diseases: evaluating immune response in a sample of Italian healthcare students

Background:\r\nHealthcare university students are exposed to a range of risk\r\nfactors during their hospital practical training, particularly in\r\nrelation to biological hazards. Despite being students, they\r\nmust be paid the same attention as health professionals in\r\nrelation to the same possibility of transmitting infections to\r\nfellow colleagues, patients, and the wider community.The\r\nprimary aim of this study is to investigate the seroprevalence\r\ncharacteristics of IgG antibodies against main infectious\r\ndiseases in students enrolled in medical and health-related\r\ndegree programs in an Italian university.\r\nMethods:\r\nWe conducted a retrospective epidemiological study of health\r\nprofessions students of a university hospital in Rome,\r\ncollecting sociodemographic information and serology of\r\nantibody titers under study (hepatitis B, measles, mumps,\r\nrubella and varicella) from 2013 to 2023. After initial\r\ndescription of the study population, bivariate and multivariate\r\nanalyses were performed to study the association between\r\npresence of antibodies with relevant variables.\r\nResults:\r\nOur study sample included 2523 students (68.5% females;\r\nmean age 22.2, SD 3.8), of which 44.4% were protected against\r\nHBV, 87.3% against measles, 85.5% against mumps, 94.6%\r\nrubella and 95.2% against varicella. Differences in antibody\r\ncoverage between age groups were statistically significant\r\n(p < 0.001), with the exception of mumps. Surprisingly, the\r\nprevalence of HBV antibody titer below the seropositivity cutoff\r\nappeared to have an inverse correlation with older age\r\n(1998-99 OR 0.75 CI 0.61-0.93, 2000-01 OR 0.50 CI 0.41-0.62,\r\n2002-04 OR 0.40 CI 0.31-0.52).\r\nConclusions:\r\nDespite several recommendations and campaigns to promote\r\nvaccinations, the goal of achieving high immunization rates\r\namong healthcare workers still represents a challenge. Public\r\nhealth policies should focus on improving prevention\r\nstrategies, including serological screening and workplace\r\nvaccination for non-immune individuals, especially for\r\nHepatitis B.\r\nKey messages:\r\nImproving prevention strategies, including serological\r\nscreening and vaccination, is crucial to achieve high\r\nimmunization rates among healthcare students, especially\r\nfor Hepatitis B.\r\nHealth profession students are at risk of exposure to\r\ninfectious diseases during hospital practical training, and\r\nthe prevalence of immunity varies among different age\r\ngroups.