Abstract C90: Examining racial and ethnic disparities in HPV awareness and the association of trust in cancer information from physicians among males
Authors: Cooper Dexter L. , Hernandez Natalie D. , Rollins Latrice , Henry-Akintobi Tabia , McCallister Calvin 
Published: March 2017

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted virus in the United States, however the focus is heavily placed on its effects on women's health. Men with HPV are also affected, in that, they are at an increased risk of developing penile, oral, and anal malignancies. In fact, approximately 9,251 male cancers in 2014 were attributed to HPV. In addition, black and Hispanic men are diagnosed with more HPV-related cancers and HPV-related cancers at later stages compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Physician communication with male patients about HPV vaccination may be beneficial to increasing HPV vaccinations and decreasing HPV transmission. The purpose of this study is to examine 1) the awareness of men about HPV and the HPV vaccine by race and 2) the association of trust in information from physicians about cancer and ever hearing about HPV and the HPV vaccine.

Methods: Data for this study is from the National Cancer Institute's 2014 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) DATA 4 Cycle 4, a nationally representative cross-sectional population-based study about cancer-related information. The current study included 1,203 males who reside in the United States. The study analyzed self-reported data on participants' demographics, HPV knowledge, and physician communication about HPV vaccination. Chi-square tests were conducted to examine racial/ethnic differences in knowledge and physician communication about the HPV vaccination. Binomial logistic regression analysis examined associations between hearing of HPV and communication about HPV with a physician while controlling for demographics, health insurance status, family dynamics, trust of cancer information from a physician, and having a regular physician.

Results: The mean age of the sample was 56.79 (SD=15.43) years. The sample was 70% non-Hispanic white, 14% non-Hispanic black, and 16% Hispanic men. The majority of the sample was insured (91%), married (61%), employed (51%), and had a college or post graduate education (43%). Frequency distributions indicated that 50% of the sample had never heard of HPV and 53% had never heard of the HPV vaccine. Chi square tests showed that black men (52.1%) were more likely to not know that HPV is sexually transmitted compared to white (32.5%) and Hispanic (19.8%) men (p&lt;.001). Hispanic (62.6%) and black (63.5%) men were less likely to have heard about a vaccine to prevent HPV infection when compared to White (48.3%) men (p&lt;.001). In addition Hispanic men (58.6%) were less likely to trust a doctor about cancer information compared to white (71.0%) and black (74.3%) men. Binomial logistic regression analysis showed that men had greater odds of hearing about HPV if they were younger, had some college/post high school training or more education, and lived in a household with an income of $100,000 or more annually. Models indicated that having a regular provider was no longer significant when trust of cancer information from the doctor was added to the model. Binomial logistic regression analysis showed that men had greater odds of hearing about the HPV vaccine if they were non-Hispanic white, younger, insured, had a regular provider, employed or retired, had some college/post high school training or more education, and lived in a household with an income higher than $34,999 annually.

Conclusion: In general, men are not receiving the information about the HPV or how it is transmitted. Furthermore, racial/ethnic differences were found in being informed about the HPV vaccine and trust in receiving cancer information from physicians. Findings suggest that men's lack of knowledge about HPV and the lack of trust of cancer information from physicians may be linked to a lack of HPV vaccinations. Future health communications efforts should explore community-based and culturally sensitive methods to disseminate HPV information to men.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference.

Citation Format: Dexter L. Cooper, Natalie D. Hernandez, Latrice Rollins, Tabia Henry-Akintobi, Calvin McCallister. Examining racial and ethnic disparities in HPV awareness and the association of trust in cancer information from physicians among males. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr C90.