Preteen girls who received the HPV vaccine were no more likely than unvaccinated girls to become pregnant, develop sexually transmitted infections or seek birth control counseling, according to the latest study to discount concerns that vaccination against the human papillomavirus encourages promiscuity.
Other studies, including a report on British teens out last week, also have dismissed the notion. But most relied on self-reporting by girls or parents, says Robert Bednarczyk, lead author of a study in today's Pediatrics and a clinical investigator with Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research-Southeast .
His study of 1,398 girls ages 11 and 12 analyzed medical data from the Kaiser Permanente Georgia managed-care group and offers "the first clinical validation of what we've seen in self-reported surveys," he says. "We're hoping (it) will provide some reassurance to parents and to physicians that this concern that has been raised in the past isn't an actual barrier. Receiving this vaccine won't lead to increased sexual activity."
For the analysis, Bednarczyk and colleagues examined "clinical markers of sexual activity" -- pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and contraceptive counseling -- for two groups of preteen girls for up to three years. One group of 493 girls had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine Gardasil along with other recommended vaccines for tetanus and meningitis. A comparison group of 905 girls had received the tetanus and meningitis vaccines but not HPV.
Overall, "there was a very similar rate of testing, diagnosis and counseling between both groups," with no increase in pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections or birth control counseling, Bednarczyk says.
Fewer than 1% of all girls had a positive test for an STI, and fewer than 1% had a positive pregnancy test, he says.
Sexual risk-taking "has been raised as a concern around HPV vaccination and invoked as a reason for not vaccinating but has no support empirically, and is clinically and ethically wrong," says Gregory Zimet, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University.
The new study "really demonstrates that getting the HPV vaccination is not somehow a signal to start having unprotected sex," he says.
According to the most recent CDC figures, 53% of girls ages 13 to 17 received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine in 2011. That's less than T-dap (tetanus) and bacterial meningitis vaccines recommended for the same ages , Bednarczyk says.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that girls 11-12 receive three doses to protect them from HPV, which is transmitted through sexual contact and can cause genital warts and cervical, penile, vaginal, head and neck cancers.
The vaccine also is recommended for females 13 to 26 who did not get it when they were younger, and for males 11 to 21. Doctors say that the virus can spread without intercourse and that condoms offer only partial protection, because HPV can live on skin not covered by condoms.
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