Objective: Evaluate the effect of Hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) on C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in healthy term infants.
Study design: A prospective controlled study in an academic medical center serving an inner city community. Subjects were singleton, term and late pre-term infants delivered vaginally with normal physical examination and without risk factors for or signs of sepsis. CRP levels were measured in cord blood and at the time of newborn genetic screening. The early HepB group received HepB within a few hours after birth. The late HepB group had HepB delayed until after the repeat CRP.
Result: One hundred and eighty-two infants were enrolled (94 early HepB, 88 late HepB) with similar demographic features in each group. Neither the mean cord CRP (early HepB, 0.24±0.23 vs late HepB, 0.30±0.68 mg l(-1), P=0.37) nor the median of the repeat CRP (early HepB, 2.6 (interquartile range, 1.18 to 7.03) vs late HepB, 1.7 (interquartile range, 0.73 to 5.8) mg l(-1), P=0.14) showed significant differences between the two groups.
Conclusion: HepB does not affect CRP levels in healthy term infants.