Women Snub HPV Vaccination

PHILADELPHIA -- Less than a third of women who start out getting the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine wind up receiving all three necessary doses, researchers said here.

In a single-center study of almost 10,000 women eligible for vaccination -- those ages 9 to 26 -- only 30.78 percent of the women who started the HPV vaccine regimen actually completed the required three-dose series, Kathleen Tracy of the University of Maryland and colleagues reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Cancer Prevention meeting.

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Tracy told MedPage Today that the findings were generally consistent with a number of other studies based on electronic health record data -- and indicate that many young women are not protected against strains of HPV that could lead to cervical cancer.

Tracy said there were also patterns regarding age and race -- African-American women were more likely to initiate vaccination, but were less likely to follow through. The same was true for women over 18, she added.

"At 18, it's the first time you're making your own medical decisions, organizing your schedule, and making your own appointments," Tracy remarked. "This is the first time there's no parent involved in making those decisions and appointments."

The researchers looked at data from a University of Maryland electronic health record system, which included 9,658 teens and young women who were eligible for HPV vaccination between August 2006 and August 2010.

Among the 2,641 women who started on the HPV vaccine, 39.1 percent received a single dose, 30.1 percent got two doses, and 30.78 percent completed the recommended three-dose regimen.

"Any time you require a patient to get more than one dose, especially when it requires a clinic visit, you're setting up a barrier," Tracy said.

Age was a factor in adherence, as those 18 and older were less likely to take more than a single dose. And black women were less likely than whites to complete the series, the researchers found.