Epidemiologic Reviews Advance Access originally published online on June 16, 2006
Epidemiologic Reviews 2006 28(1):126-135; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxj010
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ARTICLES |
Nationwide Hepatitis B Vaccination Program in Taiwan: Effectiveness in the 20 Years After It Was Launched
1 Graduate Institute of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
2 Department of Family Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
3 Center for Disease Control, Taiwan, Republic of China
4 Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Correspondence to Prof. Chien-Jen Chen, Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica 128, Academia Road Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan 115, Republic of China (e-mail: cjchen{at}ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw).
accepted for publication April 6, 2006.
The national hepatitis B vaccination program in Taiwan is considered one of the most successful and effective public health programs to control chronic hepatitis B infection in the past 20 years. This review illustrates how to implement a successful hepatitis B vaccination program based on Taiwan's experience. Several important controlled randomized clinical trials on hepatitis B immunoglobulin and vaccine in Taiwan demonstrated an 80–90% protective effect among infants of mothers who were positive for either hepatitis B envelope antigen or hepatitis B surface antigen. A series of prevalence surveys on children born before and after the national vaccination program began disclosed a steady decrease in seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in Taiwan, with 78–87% effectiveness after the national vaccination program was launched. Studies on the secular trend of liver disease risk also documented a 68% decline in mortality from fulminant hepatitis in infants and a 75% decrease in the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in children 6–9 years of age after the national vaccination program began. In conclusion, since 1984, the national hepatitis B vaccination program has been successful in preventing acute and chronic liver diseases in Taiwan.
hepatitis B vaccines • liver diseases • program evaluation • public health • regional health planning • Taiwan • treatment outcome • vaccination
HBeAg, hepatitis B envelope antigenHBIG, hepatitis B immunoglobulinHBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigenHBV, hepatitis B virus
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. A. Ibrahim Editorial: Vaccines and Public Health Epidemiol. Rev., August 1, 2006; 28(1): 1 - 2. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. R. Hinman, W. A. Orenstein, and L. E. Rodewald Vaccines--Victories and Challenges Am. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2006; 164(3): 197 - 199. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|