25 August, 2017
Six out of 10 US parents are choosing to get their children vaccinated against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV), which is spread by sexual contact, federal health officials reported Thursday. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the University of Alabama at Birmingham led the study, which appears today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"The HPV vaccine is an important tool to help us keep our kids safe because it significantly lowers the risk of HPV-associated cancers in the future.we were concerned to find vaccination rates were significantly lower for survivors of childhood cancer compared to their peers".
Cancer survivors are at high risk for HPV-related morbidities, but there is a scarcity of data regarding vaccination rates and barriers to vaccine initiation among this patient population.
The survey also revealed that the HPV vaccination was most likely to be received if it was recommended by a health care provider. But just 23.8 percent of survivors or parents surveyed reported receiving recommendations.
This highlights the importance of encouraging physicians to recommend the vaccine in order to improve uptake of the HPV vaccine. Vaccination rates tend to be lower in rural and less urban areas compared to more urban areas, the CDC said. In other words, the doctors assume each encounter may be the only chance to administer recommended vaccinations, and they urge parents to accept them. More childhood cancer survivors should be getting a vaccine that could prevent a second cancer later in life.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HPV vaccine is important because it protects against cancers, like throat and cervical cancer, caused by HPV infection.
An estimated 14 million Americans, including teens, become infected with HPV each year. Most clear the infection on their own.
In late 2016, CDC updated its HPV vaccine recommendations as new evidence showed that two doses of HPV vaccine in younger adolescents provided levels of protection similar to those seen for three doses in older adolescents and young adults. HPV vaccination of childhood cancer survivors has been endorsed by leading health organizations.
In its new report, the CDC said 60 percent of teens aged 13 to 17 received one or more doses of HPV vaccine in 2016 - an increase of 4 percentage points from 2015. That compares to 40.5 percent of US residents the same age.
However, according to Lairson, in Texas, just 41 percent of girls and 24 percent of boys age 13 to 17 had completed the HPV vaccination series in 2015.
"What we frequently hear is that the provider didn't recommend the vaccine", Ms. Stokley said.
Adolescents who get the first dose of HPV vaccine before their 15th birthday need two doses of HPV vaccine to be protected against cancers caused by HPV. The difference in vaccination rates between boys and girls has been narrowing in recent years.
The data were drawn from the 2016 National Immunization Survey-Teen, which focused on vaccination behavior among almost 20,500 adolescents 13 to 17 years old. Researchers noted that the same factors are associated with a lack of HPV vaccination in the general public. For example, while perceived lack of insurance coverage and vaccine costs were identified as barriers to vaccination, the vaccine is widely available from the federally funded Vaccines for Children Program, community health departments, primary care clinics, and college health services at little to no cost regardless of insurance coverage. Firm recommendations that it's time to get Tdap, HPV, and meningococcus vaccines - messages that convey that the doctor strongly urges all these vaccines - have been shown to result in more agreement from parents.
The childhood cancer survivors in this study were treated at St. Jude; Children's of Alabama/University of Alabama at Birmingham; City of Hope, Duarte, California; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Emory University, Atlanta.
Researchers conducted a cross-section survey of 982 cancer survivors aged 9 to 26 years (median age, 16.3 years; 54.6% male; 65.5% non-Hispanic white) who had completed treatments within the previous 5 years (median, 4.1 years) at five NCI-designated cancer centers.
"This is part of women's healthcare and men's healthcare".
