Factors influencing the willingness of US women to vaccinate their daughters against the human papillomavirus to prevent
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Factors influencing the willingness of US women to vaccinate their daughters against the human papillomavirus to prevent cervical cancer Jennifer Y. Lai • Anna V. Tinker • Winson Y. Cheung
Received: 3 April 2013 / Accepted: 11 April 2013 / Published online: 23 April 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine helps to prevent cervical cancer. However, research indicates that public acceptance of the vaccine is suboptimal. Our aims were to evaluate the willingness of US women to use the HPV vaccine in their daughters, examine their current understanding of HPV, and determine the impact of HPV knowledge and other socio-demographic factors on their willingness to get their daughters vaccinated. Women aged C18 years were identified from the US Health Information National Trends Survey. We developed a 6-point composite scoring system based on individual responses to HPV-related questions to characterize personal understanding about HPV. Logistic regression models were constructed to explore the influence of the women’s HPV knowledge level and additional sociodemographic factors on the willingness to use HPV in their daughters. There were 804 female respondents: mean age was 44.9 (SD = 2.53) years and 73 % were White. In total, 75 % of women indicated they would vaccinate their daughters against HPV. Mean knowledge score was 4.6 (SD = 0.80). While White race was associated with higher willingness to use the vaccine in their daughters (OR = 1.86, p = 0.04), HPV knowledge level was not (OR = 0.47, p = 0.22). Among US women, HPV knowledge level was high, but it was not associated with the willingness to vaccinate their daughters against HPV. Interventions focused on alleviating racial disparities might better modify the use of the HPV vaccine.
J. Y. Lai A. V. Tinker W. Y. Cheung (&) Division of Medical Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver Clinic, 600 W. 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4E6, Canada e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords
HPV vaccine HPV knowledge US women
Introduction Cervical cancer is the 7th most common cancer in the world and the 3rd most frequent among women [1]. Globally, there are an estimated 529,000 new cases and 275,000 deaths annually from this disease, with the majority occurring in developing countries where access to preventive care and screening programs may be limited [1]. In the United States (US), the age-adjusted incidence rate for cervical cancer is 8.1 per 100000 women. Stratified by race, the incidence rates are higher in Blacks (10.2 per 100000) and Hispanics (12.0 per 100000), suggesting that non-White minority US women may be experiencing barriers to appropriate preventive and screening health care [2]. The human papillomavirus (HPV) was first reported to cause cervical cancer in 1983 [3, 4]. In subsequent decades, epidemiological evidence that has included large case series [5, 6], case–control studies [7, 8], and cohort observations [9, 10] confirmed the strong causal relationship betwe
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