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Certain behavioral factors linked to parents’ perceptions of HPV vaccine

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Behavioral factors, including cigarette smoking, significantly influenced whether or not parents would allow their daughters to receive the human papillomavirus vaccine, according to study results.

Researchers from the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey/UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J. examined cross-sectional survey data from the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) to identify whether certain factors influenced parents’ perceptions of the HPV vaccine. They included 1,383 U.S. adults who reported having a female child aged younger than 18 years in the household.

Results indicated that 57.5% of the parents would have their 11- to 12-year-old daughter vaccinated, 24.9% were unsure and 17.6% would not. Reasons for refusing vaccination included the following:

• Insufficient knowledge about the vaccine (47.8%).
• Worry over vaccine safety (19.6%).
• Thought child was not sexually active (8.8%).
• Lack of doctor recommendation (5.6%).
• Thought child did not need the vaccine (5.4%).
• Young age (3.1%).
• Thought more research is needed (2.7%).
• Anti-vaccination beliefs (2.1%).

Data also showed that parents who had a lack of physical activity within the past month (P=.002), used complementary or alternative therapies in the past year (P=.021) and had no history of smoking (P=.005) were less likely to have their child vaccinated. Additionally, the belief that cancer can be cured if detected early increased the likelihood that parents would have their child vaccinated.

“Some prior research suggests that risky health behaviors tend to co-occur (that is, smoking, alcohol use) and are associated with lower uptake of harm prevention strategies, such as vaccinations,” Carolyn Y. Fang, PhD, study researcher and associate professor in the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center, said in a press release.

“This was not the case in the current study. It may be that parents who are former or current smokers have a heightened awareness of cancer and its related risks; therefore, they may be more willing to vaccinate their daughters to prevent cancer.”

Fang CY. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2010;19:319-326.