Mothers More Willing To Have Older Daughters Vaccinated Against HPV, Study Finds

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Article Date: 06 May 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Although CDC recommends that girls receive the human papillomavirus vaccine at age 11 or 12 to protect against cervical cancer before the onset of sexual activity, mothers of girls under age 13 are less willing to have their daughters vaccinated than mothers of older girls, a new study has found, the Chicago Sun-Times reports (Thomas, Chicago Sun-Times, 5/5). The study was presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics' plenary session at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, which ends Tuesday in Honolulu, ANI/Thaindian News reports.

For the study, Jessica Kahn -- a physician of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center -- and colleagues surveyed 10,521 mothers of adolescent girls who were participating in the Growing Up Today study, a longitudinal study of the children of mothers participating in the Nurses Health Study II between June 2006 and February 2007. The study found that 48% of mothers were willing to have their nine- to 12-year-old daughters vaccinated, 68% were willing to have 13- to 15-year-old daughters vaccinated, and 86% were willing to have 16- to 18-year-old daughters vaccinated.

Researchers looked at seven factors regarding HPV vaccination, including perceived benefits; perceived barriers, such as whether the vaccine would lead to risky sexual behavior; perception of daughters' risk of HPV infection; understanding of HPV-related diseases, such as cervical cancer; and a physician's recommendation (ANI/Thaindian News, 5/5). Kahn said that it is not surprising that parents are less comfortable about younger girls receiving HPV vaccines. "There's sort of an underlying assumption among some parents that recommending the vaccine means that someone, either a clinician or themselves, will have to have a discussion that HPV is ... transmitted sexually," Kahn said (Chicago Sun-Times, 5/5).

Kahn said that because the study found that "personal beliefs play[ed] such an important role" in mothers' decisions to have their daughters vaccinated, evidence-based messages about adolescent HPV risk and the effectiveness of HPV vaccines should be developed to "increase the acceptability" of the vaccines among parents. Kahn added that a comprehensive approach to increase acceptability among parents should involve clinicians, health educators, advocacy groups and the public health community (ANI/Thaindian News, 5/5).

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