HPV vaccine uptake among Asian American girls aged 9–17 years during 2008–2010

Abstract

Both bivalent and quadrivalent vaccines have demonstrated high efficacy (90%–100%) in protecting against infections and precancerous lesions caused by vaccine-type HPV among sexually active adolescents and young women [1]. In the USA, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends routine vaccination for all 11–12-year-old girls and “catch-up” vaccination for those aged 13–26 years who were not vaccinated before [2]. Despite high efficacy, HPV vaccination rates (initiation: 29%; completion: 14%) have been very low among adolescent girls in the USA [3]. However, very little is known about the uptake rate among Asian American girls. Accordingly, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data collected during 2008–2010 was used to investigate this. The BRFSS is the world’s largest (>350 000 interviews/year) ongoing cross-sectional health survey among US adults conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During interview, verbal informed consent was obtained from survey respondents for BRFSS participation. The details about the survey methods have been published elsewhere [4]. For the present study, the sample was restricted to respondents with a 9–17-year-old girl in their care. Data analysis was conducted using Stata’s svy module (STATA Corp, College Station, USA). Since the study was based on publicly available de-identified data, it was exempt from review by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Texas Medical Branch.