Evaluating The Efficacy Of The New HPV Vaccines: A Systematic Review

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 02 Aug 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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To gauge the potential impact of the new HPV vaccines on disease burden, Lisa Rambout BScPhm and colleagues performed a systematic review of the available evidence from randomized controlled trials of the efficacy of the new vaccines. They screened 456 reports and included 9 in their systematic review; 6 were reports of randomized controlled trials and 3 were follow-up reports of initial trials. The systematic review indicates that the 2 available HPV vaccines appear to be highly efficacious in preventing HPV infection and precancerous cervical disease among women aged 15-25 years old who had not previously been infected with vaccine-type HPV strains.

There are more than 100 known subtypes of HPV, but types 16 and 18 are the most prevalent oncogenic strains of the virus, accounting for an estimated 70% of cervical cancers worldwide. Both of the available HPV vaccines target types 16 and 18, and one of then also targets HPV types 6 and 11, 2 non-oncogenic strains associated with the development of external genital disease, including genital warts. Vaccination was also shown to be highly efficacious in preventing other HPV-related infection and disease outcomes, including persistent HPV infection, low-grade lesions and genital warts. The majority of adverse events were minor.

"Prophylactic vaccination against human papillomavirus infection and disease in women: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials"
Lisa Rambout BScPhm, Laura Hopkins MD MSc, Brian Hutton MSc, Dean Fergusson PhD

Canadian Medical Association Journal
http://www.cmaj.ca

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