Interventions to Increase HPV Vaccine Uptake Are Cost-Effective

Pediatrics recently published a study, Cost-effectiveness of Interventions to Increase HPV Vaccine Uptake, led by CHDS postdoctoral fellow Jenny Spencer that compares the cost and benefits of interventions to improve uptake of the HPV vaccine in the US (see video abstract). Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections cause nearly 35,000 cancers annually in the US, the vast majority of which could be prevented through HPV vaccination – yet uptake remains well below national targets. Spencer and colleagues compared three interventions shown to improve HPV vaccine uptake: quality-improvement visits to primary care clinics, reminder/recall letters to parents of eligible adolescents, and school-located vaccination program.

Using a simulation model of HPV transmission and progression, they incorporated data from randomized trials to compare the cost and long-term impact of each intervention from the prospective of an average-sized US State. Findings showed that all three intervention alternatives are considered cost-effective when compared to no intervention. If state policy makers are considering all three alternatives, school-located vaccination, while the most expensive, offers a sufficient gain in cancer-reduction and healthy life years to justify its additional costs. Moreover, all of the intervention strategies are always effective when compared to no intervention, but tradeoffs among the three alternatives vary across alternative assumptions about intervention characteristics.

Learn more: Watch the Video Abstract of the article, Cost-effectiveness of Interventions to Increase HPV Vaccine Uptake
Learn more: Read the full article, Cost-effectiveness of Interventions to Increase HPV Vaccine Uptake
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