Cervical cancer incidence higher in states with lower proportion of HPV vaccination rates

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to new findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved in San Antonio, Texas, researchers from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the number of adolescent girls receiving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is much lower in states with higher rates of cervical cancer and cervical cancer-related mortality.

Using the National Immunization Survey-Teen, researchers identified the rates of HPV vaccination in various states, and identified cervical cancer rates in the same states using the United States Cancer Statistics database. States with higher vaccination rates had lower cancer incidence rates and vice versa.

For example, in Massachusetts, 69% of adolescent girls have begun the HPV vaccination series and 6 per 100,000 women develop cervical cancer a year, whereas in Arkansas, 41% of adolescent girls have initiated HPV vaccination and 10 per 100,000 women develop cervical cancer a year. In addition, completion rates of the HPV vaccine course were higher in states where adolescents have higher levels of contact with the healthcare system.

The researchers suggest that more adolescent preventive health care may be needed to improve completion rates of the HPV vaccination series.