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A new analysis shows that vaccinating boys and men against human papilloma virus (HPV) reduces their risk of head and neck cancer and other deadly diseases, and increases the vaccine’s proven benefit in protecting women against cervical cancer. (Read this also | What is human papillomavirus and why can it put you at risk for cancer?,
The study, involving more than 3.4 million people, is the first long-term analysis of the vaccine’s true effect on preventing HPV-related cancers of the head and neck, anal area, penis, vulva, vagina, and cervix, researchers said.
Previous studies of the vaccine have focused mainly on cervical cancer. For example, in a large study conducted in Sweden in 2020, the rate of cervical cancer was 47 per 100,000 in vaccinated women and 94 per 100,000 in unvaccinated women.
The new study, to be presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, included more than 1.7 million volunteers who were vaccinated against HPV at some point between 2010 and the present, between the ages of 9 and 39, and about the same number of volunteers who were not vaccinated. About 44% of these were men.
The study found that vaccinated men had lower rates of HPV-related cancers and head and neck cancers (3.4 and 2.8 cases per 100,000 vaccinated patients, respectively, compared with 7.5 and 6.3 cases per 100,000 non-vaccinated patients, respectively).
Smoking used to be the leading cause of many head and neck cancers — such as mouth and throat cancers — but today the leading cause is HPV infection, ASCO President Dr. Lynn Schuchar, who was not involved in the study, said at a press briefing Thursday.
He said the new study “advances our knowledge” and shows that preventing infection with the vaccine helps prevent these additional HPV-related cancers.
The study found that vaccinated women had a lower risk of HPV-related cancers and, as expected, a lower risk of cervical cancer than unvaccinated women.
Vaccination did not significantly reduce their risk of head and neck cancer and vaginal or vulval cancer.
Merck’s HPV vaccine was approved for girls and women ages 9 to 26 in 2006, and for boys and men in that age group in 2009. The most recent version, Gardasil 9, has been approved for use in children and adults ages 9 to 45 in the US since 2018.
A separate study to be presented at the ASCO meeting found that between 2011 and March 2020, HPV vaccine uptake in the US increased from 23.3% to 43.0% of the eligible population, with improvements from 7.8% to 36.4% in men and from 37.7% to 49.4% in women.
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