HPV Vaccine: Nearly Half of Women Do Not Complete the Series

More than half of women who initiate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series may not actually complete all 3 injections in the series, according to recent research.

These findings emerged from a retrospective cohort study of 102,052 women aged 11 to 26 years who initiated the HPV vaccine series between 2008 and 2012. Data were obtained from a community-based healthcare system in California. Demographic data including race, age, ethnicity, and language preferences were also collected.

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Women were categorized by age into one of the following groups:

• Younger adolescents (11 to 14 years)
• Teens (15 to 17 years)
• Young Adults (18 to 26 years)

Acculturation among Hispanic women was categorized as low or high, with written and spoken Spanish vs English was used as a proxy.

Results of the study showed that only 41% (n = 41,847) of women completed the HPV vaccine series. Completion rates were highest among younger adolescents (43.4%) compared with teens (37.4%) and young adults (38.0%).

Asian women were most likely to complete the series, whereas black and Hispanic women were least likely to receive all 3 doses of the vaccine. In this cohort, completion rates were 49.5%, 28.7%, and 38.9% in Asian, black, and Hispanic women, respectively.

Hispanic women with low acculturation had a 1.2-fold higher adjusted odds ratio for vaccine series completion vs highly acculturated Hispanic women.

“These disparities emphasize the need for cancer prevention across all racial and ethnic groups,” the researchers wrote.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Freeman AJH, Gamboa C, Darbinian JA, Littell RD, Torrente S. Disparities in human papillomavirus vaccine completion rates among females in an integrated health care system. Obstet Gynecol. 2018;132(3):717-723. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000002802