Background: Seroconversion rates following Hepatitis B vaccination all around the world have been reported to be >90% in general population. However, a few studies have shown that seroconversion is less amongst Health Care Workers which can be attributed to various reasons. Medical Students are at a high risk of acquiring HBV during their clinical experience and the rate of seroconversion following vaccination was not reported previously in Indian Medical Students. Therefore this study was conducted to detect AntiHbS titres and to look into factors associated with failure of vaccination in medical students of Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi. 

Methods: An Institutional study was conducted on 89 Medical Students with prior Hepatitis B vaccination. Their AntiHbS titres were calculated and associations of non-protective levels were sought with various factors. Results: 74.2% (66/89) students developed protective levels of AntiHbS titres (=10mIU/mL) whereas 25.8% (23/89) had AntiHbS <10mIU/mL. Significant associations of non-protective AntiHbS titres (<10mIU/mL) were found with BMI =23.5 (p-value 0.014), Alcohol Consumption (p-value 0.032) and Waist Hip Ratio =0.85 in females (p-value 0.007). Associations with Waist Hip Ratio =0.95 in males (p-value 0.056), Tobacco Consumption (p-value 0.969), past history of jaundice (p-value 0.474), Occupational exposure (p-value 0.553) and history of blood transfusion (p-value 0.298) and Gender were statistically non-significant. 

Conclusions: It was concluded that the rate of seroconversion in medical students was less than that reported for general population. Therefore, it is crucial to check AntiHbS antibody titres post vaccination and to give a booster dose of Hepatitis B vaccination to those with non-protective titres.