Interpreting HPV Vaccine Effectiveness Results – Center for Health Decision Science

CHDS faculty Nicole Gastineau Campos and National Cancer Institute Senior Investigators Anil K. Chaturvedi and Aimée R. Kreimer proposed guidance for HPV vaccine effectiveness studies in an editorial in Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “Real-World HPV Vaccine Effectiveness Studies: Guideposts for Interpretation of Current and Future Studies” suggests methods for early studies of HPV vaccine effectiveness to avoid premature conclusions about the impact of vaccination past sexual debut into the late teens and 20s.

In the same issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Kjaer and colleagues report results from a nation-wide cohort study in Denmark showing cervical cancer reductions 12 years after implementation of HPV vaccination: impact depended upon age at vaccination, and results among women vaccinated between 20 and 30 years of age differed with results from a recent study by Lei and colleagues in Sweden in the New England Journal of Medicine. Hence, the impact of HPV vaccination after age 20 years is uncertain.

Anticipating future studies on HPV vaccine effectiveness in older women, Campos and colleagues propose methodologic considerations for interpreting early findings.