No change in physician discussions with patients about the human papillomavirus vaccine between 2007 and 2013
Section snippets
Background
The human papillomavirus (HPV) is currently the most common sexually transmitted viral infection globally, affecting at least 630 million people, and is causally linked to several anogenital cancers, including cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal and penile, as well as oropharyngeal cancer, a specific sub-site of cancers of the head and neck region [1]. In the United States, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) [2], more common than the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and
Methods
Using the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data from 2007 and 2013, authors compared the two years to find if there had been differences in physicians’ discussion of the HPV vaccine with patients, and if there were any racial disparities associated with these discussions by physicians. The HINTS is a publicly available dataset that is housed by the National Cancer Institute. It reports health information trends among adults in the United States, and has been fielded every 2 or
Results
When comparing the proportions of conversations between physicians and patients in 2007, there were no significant differences based on race (p = 0.16) or 2013 (p = 0.64). Using logistic regression, in 2007, physicians were 2.5 times more likely to have discussed the HPV vaccine with their African-American patients than Caucasian patients (aOR = 2.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 13.38/cOR = 2.77; 95% CI: 0.63, 12.10); however, these results were statistically insignificant (p = 0.16). In 2013, after adjusting for
Discussion
The present study examined the amount of HPV-vaccine-related conversations between physicians and patients by reviewing the change from 2007 to 2013 as reported by patients aged 18–26 years old. Our results show that there has not been a statistically significant increase in the percentage of participants aged 18–26 years who reported that their healthcare provider ever talked with them about the HPV vaccine. This result corroborates a previous study of physicians that also found no statistical
Limitations
It is important to note that gender disparities were not explored in this research given that the HPV vaccine recommendation was extended to males only later in 2011. For that reason, the data were not stratified by sex. This could have contributed to the missing data in 2007 given that males would not have perceived the HPV vaccine applicable to their personal healthcare. Additionally, findings may be limited due to the large number of missing cases and limited age range in 2007 and 2013. The
Conclusion
Despite the fact that it has been almost a decade since the HPV vaccine was first approved, this study detected no statistically significant change in the amount of conversations physicians have with their patients about the vaccine for patients aged 18 to 26 years. To increase vaccination rates against the most common STI in the world, public health messages should consider targeting physicians and equipping them with the necessary materials needed to educate patients about the vaccine.
Conflict of interest statement
We have no conflict of interest to declare, and there was no funding for this research.
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