Abstract 4210: Over 10 years since HPV vaccine approval, awareness of the causal link between HPV and HPV-associated cancers remains low in the US
Authors: Boakye Eric Adjei , Nair Mrudula , Domgue Joel Fokom , Abouelella Dina K. , Khan Heena Y. , Osazuwa-Peters Nosayaba 
Published: May 2023

Background: Over 90% of Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers could be prevented with the HPV vaccination; yet vaccine uptake remains suboptimal. Awareness that HPV causes several cancers has been shown to improve HPV vaccination uptake. While several efforts to increase HPV-associated diseases awareness as a way to improve vaccine uptake have been made, it is unclear if these efforts have resulted in increased HPV-associated cancers awareness over the years. We examined the awareness of the link between HPV and HPV-associated cancers between 2014 and 2020 in the US.

Methods: We used the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data from 2014 (HINTS 4 cycle 4) to 2020 (HINTS 5 cycle 4). HINTS is a nationally representative survey of adults aged ≥18 in the civilian non-institutionalized US population. HPV-associated cancer awareness was assessed with the question “Do you think HPV can cause i) anal ii) cervical iii) oral and iv) penile cancers”. Responses were “yes”, “no” and “not sure”. Weighted prevalence estimates and corresponding 95% CIs were calculated for all four HPV-associated cancer awareness questions at each timepoint.

Results: There were five timepoints included in the study: HINTS 4 cycle 4 (2014, n=2239), HINTS 5 cycle 1 (2017, n=2034), HINTS 5 cycle 2 (2018, n=2050), HINTS 5 cycle 3 (2019, n=2270), and HINTS 5 cycle 4 (2020, n=2340). Awareness of the link between HPV and cervical cancer was high (77.6% in 2014) but decreased by 7.4% between 2014 and 2020 (Table). However, awareness of the link between HPV and anal, oral, and penile cancers was low (around 30% for each cancer type) and remained stable between 2014 and 2020 (Table).

Conclusions: Awareness of the link between HPV and HPV-associated cancers has remained steady for anal, oral and penile cancers or declined slightly for cervical cancer over time. There is a need for implementing novel and target interventions to increase awareness and counteract HPV vaccine disinformation.

Awareness of the link between HPV and HPV-associated cancers Weighted percent (95% CI) H4C4 (2014) H5C1 (2017) H5C2 (2018) H5C3 (2019) H5C4 (2020) HPV cause anal cancer 27.9 (24.7, 31.1) 29.1 (25.7, 32.5) 24.4 (21.3, 27.5) 28.8 (25.5, 32.0) 27.4 (24.3, 30.6) HPV cause oral cancer 31.2 (28.0, 34.4) 30.7 (27.6, 33.9) 27.0 (23.8, 30.1) 31.1 (27.8, 34.4) 29.5 (26.3, 32.8) HPV cause penile cancer 30.3 (27.1, 33.6) 31.2 (28.1, 34.2) 29.2 (25.9, 32.5) 32.0 (28.7, 35.4) 28.4 (25.1, 31.6) HPV cause cervical cancer 77.6 (74.9, 80.3) 81.5 (78.9, 84.2) 75.0 (72.0, 78.1) 73.9 (70.4, 77.3) 70.2 (67.0, 73.5)

Citation Format: Eric Adjei Boakye, Mrudula Nair, Joel Fokom Domgue, Dina K. Abouelella, Heena Y. Khan, Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters. Over 10 years since HPV vaccine approval, awareness of the causal link between HPV and HPV-associated cancers remains low in the US [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 4210.