Does Vaccination Protect against Human Papillomavirus-Related Cancers? Preliminary Findings from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2011–2018)

Abstract

Most oropharyngeal and anogenital cancers are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Although HPV vaccines showed high efficacy against oropharyngeal and anogenital HPV infections, and cancer precursors in randomized clinical trials, there are limited data on the effectiveness of HPV vaccination against HPV-related cancers. We aimed to evaluate the association of HPV vaccination with HPV-related cancers among a nationally representative sample of United States adults, aged 20–59 years. In a cross-sectional study combining four cycles from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, from 2011 through 2018, we used a survey-weighted logistic regression model, propensity score matching and multiple imputations by chained equations to explore the association of HPV vaccination with HPV-related cancers. Among 9891 participants, we did not find an association of HPV vaccination with HPV-related cancers (adjusted OR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.19; 1.75). Despite no statistically significant association between HPV vaccination and HPV-related cancers, our study findings suggest that HPV-vaccinated adults might have lower odds of developing HPV-related cancers than those who were not vaccinated. Given the importance of determining the impact of vaccination on HPV-related cancers, there is a need to conduct future research by linking cancer registry data with vaccination records, to obtain more robust results.