Mhealth interventions to improve public knowledge of HPV-associated oral cancer in the UK

Abstract

In the UK, the age-standardised incidence rates of cancers of the ‘oropharynx’and ‘lip and oral cavity’ are ‘2.6%’ and ‘4.9%’ respectively.These indicate a significant oral cancer burden. These are attributable tonumerous risk factors; the major risk factors include tobacco use, alcoholconsumption, and exposure to oral HPV infection. Though, significantsuccess in reducing the prevalence of most of the major risk factorshas been recorded, exposure to HPV infection still remains a majordriver of oral cancer prevalence in the UK. HPV-associated oropharyngealcancer prevalence in men and women is 6.29 and 2.04%, respectively,while prevalence for HPV-associated oral cavity cancer in menand women is 11.7 and 6.95%, respectively; and it is projected to overtakecervical cancer by the year 2025. This is mainly due to exposure tooral HPV infection through oral sex practice as over 63% of UK youngadults are found to have a history of oral sex practice. Only a minorityof the UK population is aware of HPV-associated oral cancer whichcalls for more public health efforts to increase knowledge on the role ofHPV in oral cancer. While the use of technology-based, clinic-based,and community-based interventions has been employed to improvepublic knowledge on the role of HPV in oral cancer development, technology-based interventions have not been adequately explored. Mhealthapplication-based interventions have been previously employed toimprove knowledge and behavioural change in diverse chronic diseases.Hence, our recommendation on the adoption of Mhealth application-based intervention strategy in the education of the UK’s populationon HPV-associated oral cancer is highly desirable as it closelyaligns with the country’s National Health Service (NHS) commitmenttowards the digital transformation of the healthcare system.