Disparities in awareness of the HPV vaccine and HPV-associated cancers among racial/ethnic minority populations: 2018 HINTS

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common virus that currently infects nearly 80 million people in the United States (U.S.) and can lead to cancer. HPV vaccination provides safe, effective, and lasting protection against HPV infections. Nevertheless, vaccination rates remain suboptimal. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics, HPV and HPV vaccine awareness, and knowledge of HPV-associated cancers among U.S. adults.

Design

Using responses from 3504 U.S. adults (aged 18 years and older) from the Health Information National Trends Survey 5 Cycle 2 (January–May 2018), we performed descriptive analysis to assess the level of awareness of HPV and HPV vaccines and knowledge of HPV-associated cancer. Multivariable regression analysis (including race, gender, age, level of education, marital status, number of children younger than 18) was conducted with weighted analysis.

Results

About 62% of respondents had heard of HPV and HPV vaccine. Asians had a lower level of awareness than non-Hispanic Whites of HPV (36.4% vs. 66.1%) and HPV vaccine (48.7% vs. 67.1%). Multivariable analysis showed that race/ethnicity was associated with outcomes, with Asians being less likely to have heard about HPV (aOR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.07–0.38) and non-Hispanic Blacks (aOR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.35–0.91) and Hispanics (aOR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.36–0.80) being less likely to have heard of the HPV vaccine than non-Hispanic Whites. In addition, gender, age, marital status, and education were associated with awareness of HPV and the HPV vaccine; in particular, individuals who were female, younger (18–45), married, and more highly educated were more likely to have heard of HPV and HPV vaccine.

Conclusion

Results highlight disparities in HPV and HPV vaccine awareness among racial/ethnic minority populations. Future interventions and legislation should target racial/ethnic minority populations to foster improvements in HPV vaccine uptake and reduce disparities in HPV-associated cancers.

KEYWORDS:

• Human papillomavirus
• minority health
• health care disparities
• health disparities
• health equity
• awareness
• Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS)
• U.S. adults
• human papillomavirus vaccine
• Asian Americans
• Hispanics
• racial and ethnic minorities
• underserved populations

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the developers and administrators of the Health Information National Trends Survey – the National Cancer Institute. The present study reflects the analyses and interpretations of the authors and does not reflect the views of the National Cancer Institute.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Health Information National Trends Survey released by the National Cancer Institute. These data were derived from the public domain: https://hints.cancer.gov/data/download-data.aspx.

Declaration of interest statement

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the GW Cancer Center, DC CFAR, and the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NIH National Cancer Institute Diversity Supplement Grant [grant number 3R01CA215155-05S1]: Berg/Le.