Abstract IA07: In search of racial disparities in HPV vaccination

Background: Racial disparities in cervical cancer deaths are longstanding, with African American and Latina women more likely to die from the disease. The advent of HPV vaccine created an opportunity to reduce or end these disparities, but only if uptake was either uniformly high across all females or higher among minority than non-minority females. Thus, interest in racial disparities in HPV vaccine coverage has been understandably high.Findings: Data from several sources show racial disparities and "reverse disparities" in HPV vaccination coverage. First, the most reliable national data are from the National Immunization Survey Teen, a national survey of parents of adolescents with vaccination doses confirmed by physician records. NIS-Teen data show, depending on the year, higher initiation among Black and Latina teen girls. HPV vaccine completion rates in some years have been lower among these groups. Second, several large studies of insured women have shown lower rates of HPV vaccine initiation among Black women. Finally, many national surveys using self-reported data have shown no reliable pattern with respect to disparities in HPV vaccine initiation.Another source of data is ecological analyses, comparing HPV vaccine coverage in states with lower and higher proportions of minority women. These analyses by Moss, Reiter and Brewer show that states with more African American residents had lower rates of HPV vaccine initiation among adolescent girls. However, we saw no disp...
Source: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Vaccines and Immunoprevention: Oral Presentations - Invited Abstracts Source Type: research