Confirming that HPV vaccine is not a causative factor for increased sexual behavior in teens

Source: Medical News TodayPublished: February 3, 2014  A new study may alleviate concerns that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine leads to either the initiation of sex or unsafe sexual behaviors among teenage girls and young women. The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study shows that teen girls' and young women's beliefs regarding the HPV vaccine, whether accurate or inaccurate, are not linked to subsequent sexual behaviors over the six months after vaccination. Those enrolled in the study didn't change their behavior whether they thought safer sex was less important or just as important after vaccination, or whether they thought the vaccine did or did not decrease the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) other than HPV. The vast majority thought it was still important to practice safer sex after vaccination, and most did not believe that HPV vaccination protected against other STIs. The study is published in the eFirst pages of the journal Pediatrics. "We hope this study reassures parents, and thus improves HPV vaccination rates, which in turn will reduce rates of cervical and other cancers that can result from HPV infection," says Jessica Kahn, MD, a physician in the division of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's. Dr. Kahn studied sexually experienced and inexperienced young teens and women between the ages of 13 and 21. More than 300 completed questionnaires immediately after receiving the vaccine, and most of them completed follow-up surveys again two and six months later. These surveys assessed demographics, knowledge and attitudes about the HPV vaccine, [...]