27 Apr HPV Vaccine Still Valuable For Women Who Were Not Fully Vaccinated As Children

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jacqueline Hirth, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor and
Dr. Abbey B. Berenson MD, MMS, PhD
Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health
Obstetrics and Gynecology
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Texas

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: In this sample of young women, vaccination was effective at reducing prevalence of vaccine-type HPV (6,11,16,18) compared to women who were unvaccinated. We also found a dose response, with young women who received at least 2 doses of the 3 dose vaccine series having a lower rate of vaccine-type HPV compared to those who only received one dose (8.6% compared to 16.9%, respectively).

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Response: HPV vaccination is still valuable for young women who did not receive the vaccine at the recommended age of 11 to 12 years of age. Further, our results show that fully vaccinating young women with all 3 doses of the vaccine series is particularly important to reduce the prevalence of vaccine-type HPV in this group. Therefore, clinicians should continue to screen their patients for vaccination status. They should initiate vaccination in all age-eligible women, and work with their patients to ensure that they receive all 3 injections.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: More interventions are needed to assist patients with obtaining follow-up doses of the HPV vaccine. We have had great success in our patient populations of achieving high follow-up by approaching our patients who are due for further doses each time they have an appointment at one of our clinics. More research needs to be conducted on how to assist young women who may not be a patient of a large health system to receive all 3 doses of the HPV vaccine.

Citation: Presented at the 2015 American Association of Cancer Research Meeting April 2015

AACR abstract titled “Comparison of HPV prevalence between HPV-vaccinated and non-vaccinated young adult women (20-26 years)”:

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:, Jacqueline Hirth, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor and, & Dr. Abbey B. Berenson MD, MMS, PhD Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health Obstetrics and Gynecology The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston TexasDr. Abbey B. Berenson MD, MMS, PhD (2015). HPV Vaccine Still Valuable For Women Who Were Not Fully Vaccinated As Children 

Last Updated on April 27, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD