Most HPV vaccinations not completed in urban study
Source: MedScape Today By: Nick Mulcahy November 10, 2010 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — Nearly 70% of young women and girls who received a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination at a medical center in Baltimore, Maryland, did not complete the recommended 3-dose regimen, according to a new study. Of the 2641 females (aged 9 to 26 years) who started HPV vaccination from 2006 to 2010, 39.1% received a single dose, 30.1% received 2 doses, but only 30.78% completed the recommended 3-dose regimen. "If we are going to offer a vaccine, we need to know who's getting it and who's getting the full course so we know who's protected and who's not," said the study's lead author, J. Kathleen Tracy, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Not completing a full course of the vaccine results in underprotection, said Dr. Tracy in an interview withMedscape Medical News. She presents the results of her study today here at the Ninth Annual American Association for Cancer Research International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. Dr. Tracy said that she did not anticipate that 18 to 26 year olds would be the age group least likely to complete all 3 doses of the regimen. "Given all of the marketing and attention about the HPV vaccine, I was surprised by the lack of follow-through among young women," she said. "It's probably the first time they are managing their own medical care," said Dr. Tracy about the young [...]