(HealthDay News) — The recent decrease in the incidence of cervical cancers, particularly in young women, may be associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination approval, according to a study published online March 16 in JAMA Network Open.
Cheng-I Liao, MD, from the Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan, and colleagues examined the association between vaccination availability and the incidence of HPV-attributable cancers. Analysis included cancer data from the US Cancer Statistics Public Use Database (2001 through 2017) and HPV vaccination and screening data from 2 national databases.
The researchers found that before vaccination approval, cervical cancer rates in the 20- to 24-year age group were decreasing at 2.29% annually; since approval, the rate has been decreasing by 9.50%. Annual increases for oropharyngeal (2.71%) and anal/rectal (1.83%) cancers were seen for men. Among women, the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer remained stable but anal/rectal cancer increased at 2.83% every year.
“These findings suggest that the decrease in the incidence of cervical cancers, particularly in young women, may be associated with HPV vaccination approval; however, it may be too early to evaluate this association in oropharyngeal and anal cancers, which occur later in life,” the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
