Real-World HPV Study Finds Vaccine Protects Against Cervical Abnormalities

By Kelly Young

Vaccination with the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was associated with reduced risk for cervical abnormalities in young women presenting for their first cervical screening in Australia. Findings from the case-control study appear in BMJ.

Using population registers, researchers matched nearly 12,000 females with cervical abnormalities to roughly 100,000 controls without abnormalities, and then examined rates of HPV vaccination prior to diagnosis (or control date).

The full, three doses of the vaccine were 46% effective against high-grade cervical abnormalities and 34% effective against other abnormalities. The authors estimate that 125 females would need to be vaccinated with all three doses to prevent one high-grade cervical abnormality and 22 to prevent other cervical abnormalities. The vaccine was slightly less effective at two doses.