Human Papillomavirus awareness and vaccine acceptability among men who have sex with men from mainland China

Xiangwei Li,Yu Yang,Lei Gao,Zhen Li,Mufei Li,Boxuan Feng,Haoran Zhang,Henan Xin,Xuefang Cao

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-45258-0

Abstract

Reductions in persistent HPV infection and related diseases occurrence have been proved among vaccinated males. However, little was known on awareness of HPV and the vaccine in males, especially in high-risk subgroups such as men who have sex with men (MSM), in China. A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in MSM from 10 selected cities in mainland China. HPV awareness and vaccination acceptability were investigated through interviews and questionnaires. In total, 3057 eligible participants aged 18 years older from 10 cities were investigated. Only 20.6% (629/3057) of them had ever heard of HPV and 4.8% (146/3057) had heard of HPV vaccine. Factors that potentially influence willingness for HPV vaccination were found to be safety of the vaccine (54.2%, 1656/3057) and severity of HPV infection (52.3%, 1599/3057). After education, 97.8% (2882/2946) of participants would like to pay for HPV vaccination, and only a minority of them (2.5%, 75/2946) would like to afford more than 2000 RMB. Our results showed that the awareness on HPV and the vaccine were quite poor among MSM in mainland China. To promote the application of HPV vaccination in male populations, appropriate information delivery and education on HPV infection and health should be enhanced as well as in females.

Highlights

The human papillomavirus (HPV) anogenital infection is one of the common sexually transmitted infections around the world[1]
3057 eligible participants from 10 cities were investigated, only 20.6% of them had heard of HPV and 4.8% had heard of HPV vaccine
Factors that potentially influence willingness for HPV vaccination were found to be vaccine safety (54.2%) and severity of HPV infection (52.3%). Among those who would like to pay for HPV vaccination, 42.2% of participants would pay up to 500 RMB and only a minority of participants (2.5%) would afford more than 2000RMB

Summary

Introduction

The human papillomavirus (HPV) anogenital infection is one of the common sexually transmitted infections around the world[1]. No significant differences in awareness of genital wart and anal cancer were observed between the study participants grouped by local economic levels. This is the first multicenter study from mainland China with a large sample size to investigate HPV awareness and vaccine acceptability among MSM.

Results

Conclusion