Ten years after the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was first recommended for adolescent girls in the United States, the prevalence of the cancer-causing virus has decreased among young women by almost two thirds, according to a new study in the March issue of Pediatrics.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared the rates of HPV infection in women aged 14 to 34 during the years before the vaccine was recommended (2003-2006) with the most recent years for which data are available (2009-2012). By the later period, about 51 percent of teen girls and 33 percent of women in their early 20s had received at least one of the three recommended doses of the HPV vaccine.
Among girls 14 to 19 years old, rates of infection with the four types of HPV included in the 4vHPV vaccine decreased from 11.5 percent to 4.3 percent. Among women in their early 20s, a group with lower vaccination rates, the rates of infection fell by roughly a third from 18.5 percent to 12.1 percent. The rate of HPV in women 25 and older had not fallen.
Despite the demonstrated effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing HPV infections that can result in cervical, anal, penile and mouth and throat cancers, immunization rates remain low: the CDC estimates that only 40 percent of girls and 22 percent of boys in the United States are receiving the recommended three doses of the vaccine. The CDC recommends three doses of the vaccine for girls and boys ages 11-12, when their immune response is particularly robust.
“HPV vaccination is underutilized despite the overwhelming evidence for its safety and effectiveness. Vaccination will prevent most cervical, vaginal, vulvar, and anal cancers and are expected to prevent most penile and oropharyngeal (throat and tongue) cancers that are diagnosed in 27,000 men and women every year,” says Debbie Saslow, director of cancer control intervention, HPV and women’s cancers for the American Cancer Society.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 12,990 women will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer alone this year and that nearly a third as many – 4,120 ““ will die from the disease.
“Vaccines are among the few medical interventions capable of achieving almost complete eradication of a disease,” says Saslow. It is not often that we have an opportunity to prevent cancer, or in this case multiple cancers, with a single tool. Concerted efforts are needed so that this opportunity is not lost.”
In January, the nation’s 69 National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Centers across the country issued a consensus statement urging parents to vaccinate their children and asking health care providers to encourage vaccination.
