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Abstract
Objectives Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines protect against infections/conditions which potentially adversely affect quality of life (QoL). We investigated the impact of HPV infection on QoL five years post vaccination in 22–23 year-old women and a group of controls.
Methods Participants were 22–23 year-old women who had either previously been enrolled in the FUTURE II trial of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine in Finland at age 16–17 (n = 1749), or were unvaccinated females in the birth cohort above those eligible for participation in FUTURE II in Finland (n = 6534). Participants were sent a questionnaire consisting of two generic QoL instruments (RAND36 and EQ VAS).
Results We received and analysed 4438 valid responses. Unadjusted mean outcomes of the different QoL measures (RAND36 domains and EQ VAS) were similar. Multiple regression analysis showed that reporting current or previous genital warts, or cytological abnormalities, was significantly associated with reduced QoL. There were no significant differences between the HPV-vaccinated group and the placebo or unvaccinated groups.
Conclusions Diagnoses of genital warts or of cervical anomalies have a significant impact on QoL. The QoL of women who received the placebo or no vaccine was no lower, five years later, than that of those who received the active HPV vaccine.
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acknowledgements
The authors thank all participants and staff from the FUTURE II trial for making the study possible, and Dr Simon Crouch and Dr Yvonne Birks for assistance with analysis and interpretation. This work was funded by EU FP6 and FP7 (CCPRB and PREHDICT) projects, and by the Finnish Cancer Organisations.
Declaration of interest: Matti Lehtinen has received grants through his employers, from Merck & Co., Inc. and GSK Biologicals, for HPV vaccination studies. The other authors have no competing interests. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the paper.