A Single Dose of HPV Vaccine Could Prevent Cervical Disease

A single dose of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is associated with significant reductions in the risk of cervical disease, according to the results of a recent study.

“Human papillomavirus (HPV)–related disease remains a significant source of morbidity and mortality, and this underscores the need to increase HPV vaccination to reduce the burden of the disease,” the authors wrote.

They conducted a retrospective matched cohort study using administrative data from Optum’s Clinformatics DataMart Database, identifying 66,541 vaccinated and 66,541 unvaccinated female patients aged 9 to 26 years who had received 1 or more doses of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine between January 2006 and June 2015.

Overall, in participants aged 15 to 19 years, the estimated rate of cervical disease after 5 years of follow-up was 2.65% in the unvaccinated group and 1.62%, 1.99%, and 1.86% in those that received 1, 2, or 3 doses of the HPV vaccine, respectively.

HRs for confirmed cervical disease were 0.64 (95% CI, 0.47‐0.88), 0.72 (95% CI, 0.54‐0.95), and 0.66 (95% CI, 0.55‐0.80) for 1, 2, and 3 doses, respectively.

“The receipt of 1, 2, or 3 doses of an HPV vaccine by females aged 15 to 19 years was associated with a lower incidence of preinvasive cervical disease in comparison with unvaccinated females, and this supports the use of any HPV vaccination in reducing the burden of the disease,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:
Rodriguez AM, Zeybek B, Vaughn M, et al. Comparison of the long‐term impact and clinical outcomes of fewer doses and standard doses of human papillomavirus vaccine in the United States: A database study [published online February 10, 2020]. Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.32700. Accessed February 10, 2020.