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Cancer survivors likely to receive HPV vaccine after provider recommendation
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ORLANDO, Fla. — A study presented at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition revealed that among young adult and adolescent cancer survivors, provider recommendation was the strongest predictor of intent to receive HPV vaccine, which, in turn, was strongly predictive of subsequent initiation of the vaccine series.
“Survivors of childhood cancer are at increased risk for HPV-related subsequent cancer compared with their peers in the general population; however, HPV vaccine initiation rates among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors are significantly lower than in the general population,” said Brooke Cherven, MPH, RN, CPON, a doctoral student and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Infectious Diseases in Children.
The study followed 135 cancer survivors aged 9 to 26 years who had completed treatment 1 to 5 years ago at a pediatric cancer center in Georgia. They were surveyed to determine their HPV vaccine status, sociodemographic factors, their intent to receive HPV vaccination and any vaccine-related health beliefs. Researchers used logistic regression models to identify predictors of vaccine intent and HPV vaccine initiation.
The results revealed that 23.7% of the survivors had initiated the vaccine at the start of the study, and an additional 20.7% initiated the vaccine in the following 3.5 years. Among the survivors, 55.6% were unvaccinated and vulnerable to the HPV throughout the 3.5 years of the study.
After controlling for age and sex, researchers said provider recommendation for the HPV vaccine was the strongest predictor of intent among survivors who were vaccine naive at the time of the survey (OR = 5.0; 95% CI, 1.4-18.4; P = .01), followed by a positive attitude toward vaccines in general (OR = 4.7; 95% CI, 2-11.2; P < .01) and perceived severity of HPV disease (OR = 3.5; 95% CI, 1.25-9.9; P = .02). HPV vaccine initiation was more likely in survivors who reported vaccine intent (OR = 3.9; 95% CI, 1.2-12.5; P = .02) and less likely among older survivors (OR = 0.7/year; 95% CI, 0.6-0.9; P < .01).
“These findings suggest that provider recommendation may play an important role in future vaccine initiation among cancer survivors, even when vaccine uptake is not immediate” Cherven said. – by Erin Michael
Reference:
Cherven B, et al. Predictors of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine intent and subsequent initiation among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Presented at: AAP National Conference & Exhibition; Nov. 2-6, 2018; Orlando, Fla.
Disclosures: Cherven received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholars Program and the American Cancer Society. The HPV Vaccine in Cancer Survivors Study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and Merck.