Study: Hepatitis B Vaccination Safe for Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Hepatitis B vaccination is safe for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, even though it has been blamed for causing rheumatoid arthritis in the past, according to researchers at the University of Tel Aviv.

In a study of 44 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, 22 were given three doses of a recombinant DNA hepatitis B vaccine over a period of six months and 22 patients served as the control group and were not given the vaccine. Both groups were made up of men and women with an average age of 51 years.

The patients were evaluated before the first dose of vaccine and again at two and seven months afterwards, measuring daytime pain, duration of morning stiffness, number of tender and swollen joints and various blood levels.

Researchers concluded that the hepatitis B vaccination was not linked with deterioration in any clinical or laboratory measures of rheumatoid arthritis. The vaccination produced antibodies in 68 percent of the patients, according to the study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Other sources: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases