Study Suggest Hepatitis B Immunization Could Cut Diabetes Risk by Half

— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate

A study presented at the 74th American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in early June suggests that immunization against hepatitis B can decrease people's risk of diabetes by 50%.

The interplay between liver infections and diabetes has been getting more attention lately. The liver plays a key role in glucose and insulin metabolism, and patients with hepatitis B or C often are often at increased risk of diabetes.

Taiwanese and U.S. researchers mined data on adults, extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2010, which captures extensive information about the health of U.S. adults and children.

The researchers looked at 7,000 people with no diabetes; of whom 1,400 had been vaccinated against hepatitis B. They found that over time the immunized people had a 52% lower rate of diabetes compared to unvaccinated individuals.

Diabetes occurred in 16 (1.13%) of the immunized group, compared to 325 (5.67%) in the un-immunized people.

This represents an astonishing 81% reduction in diabetes risk, but researchers pointed that that those who had been immunized tended to be female, younger and with lower rates of obesity. The immunized group also drank less alcohol. But even when age, gender, obesity, smoking and other attributes were factored in, the immunized group continued to have a strikingly lower rate of diabetes.
This is the first report that hepatitis B vaccination could reduce the risk of diabetes in a wide range of people. Researchers called for additional studies to confirm their findings and to find out what aspect of the immunization caused the lower incidence of diabetes.

Source: http://app.core-apps.com/tristar-ada14/abstract/e3048dedfd3d5fbcc516bc86384167f7

HBV Journal Review
July 1, 2014, Vol 11, no 7
by Christine M. Kukka

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