BACKGROUND:
Diabetic patients are at risk to viral hepatitis. It is reported that vaccination with routine doses is not sufficient for diabetic patients especially those with type I, but there is some controversies. The aim of this study was to the assessment and compare of HBs-Ab titer in type II diabetics and controls after vaccination against hepatitis B.

METHODS:
In a semi-experimental study, 91 patients with type II diabetes mellitus and 55 non diabetic healthy individuals matched in age, sex, body mass index and smoking were selected by simple non-random sampling. The positive cases for HBs-Ag, HBs-Ab and HBc-Ab were excluded. Vaccination against hepatitis B was carried in 3 times (0, 1, 6 month) with a dose of 20 μg. Then, 3 and 6 months after the last dose, Hb-A1C and HBs-Ab were tested. HBs-Ab titers were compared between two groups using Mann-Whitney U test and the correlation between HBs-Ab and Hb-A1C in two groups.

FINDINGS:
Three months after vaccination, both in diabetics and controls, the mean HBs-Ab level was 335.8±275.7 and 420.1±348.4 mIU/ml, and 6 months after vaccination it was 530.7±387.9 and 552.5±410.7 mIU/ml respectively (p>0.05). There was an inverse but non-significant correlation between HB A1C and HBs-Ab in diabetics.

CONCLUSION:
The findings of the current study confirm that the routine vaccination is sufficient for patients with type II diabetes.

KEY WORDS:
Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hepatitis B, vaccination against HBV, HBs-Ab, HB A1C