TY - JOUR T1 - Demographic and clinical characteristics associated with variations in antibody response to BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers at an academic medical centre: a longitudinal cohort analysis JF - BMJ Open JO - BMJ Open DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059994 VL - 12 IS - 5 SP - e059994 AU - Joseph E Ebinger AU - Sandy Joung AU - Yunxian Liu AU - Min Wu AU - Brittany Weber AU - Brian Claggett AU - Patrick G Botting AU - Nancy Sun AU - Matthew Driver AU - Yu Hung Kao AU - Briana Khuu AU - Timothy Wynter AU - Trevor-Trung Nguyen AU - Mona Alotaibi AU - John C Prostko AU - Edwin C Frias AU - James L Stewart AU - Helen S Goodridge AU - Peter Chen AU - Stanley C Jordan AU - Mohit Jain AU - Sonia Sharma AU - Justyna Fert-Bober AU - Jennifer E Van Eyk AU - Margo B Minissian AU - Moshe Arditi AU - Gil Y Melmed AU - Jonathan G Braun AU - Dermot P B McGovern AU - Susan Cheng AU - Kimia Sobhani Y1 - 2022/05/01 UR - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/5/e059994.abstract N2 - Objectives We sought to understand the demographic and clinical factors associated with variations in longitudinal antibody response following completion of two-dose regiment of BNT162b2 vaccination.Design This study is a 10-month longitudinal cohort study of healthcare workers and serially measured anti-spike protein IgG (IgG-S) antibody levels using mixed linear models to examine their associations with participant characteristics.Setting A large, multisite academic medical centre in Southern California, USA.Participants A total of 843 healthcare workers met inclusion criteria including completion of an initial two-dose course of BNT162b2 vaccination, complete clinical history and at least two blood samples for analysis. Patients had an average age of 45±13 years, were 70% female and 7% with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.Results Vaccine-induced IgG-S levels remained in the positive range for 99.6% of individuals up to 10 months after initial two-dose vaccination. Prior SARS-CoV-2 infection was the primary correlate of sustained higher postvaccination IgG-S levels (partial R2=0.133), with a 1.74±0.11 SD higher IgG-S response (p<0.001). Female sex (beta 0.27±0.06, p<0.001), younger age (0.01±0.00, p<0.001) and absence of hypertension (0.17±0.08, p=0.003) were also associated with persistently higher IgG-S responses. Notably, prior SARS-CoV-2 infection augmented the associations of sex (−0.42 for male sex, p=0.08) and modified the associations of hypertension (1.17, p=0.001), such that infection-naïve individuals with hypertension had persistently lower IgG-S levels whereas prior infected individuals with hypertension exhibited higher IgG-S levels that remained augmented over time.Conclusions While the IgG-S antibody response remains in the positive range for up to 10 months following initial mRNA vaccination in most adults, determinants of sustained higher antibody levels include prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, female sex, younger age and absence of hypertension. Certain determinants of the longitudinal antibody response appear significantly modified by prior infection status. These findings offer insights regarding factors that may influence the ‘hybrid’ immunity conferred by natural infection combined with vaccination.Data are available upon reasonable request. Due to the sensitive nature of the data collected for this study, requests to access the data set from qualified researchers trained in protocols on the protection of human subjects may be sent to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at biodatacore@cshs.org. ER -