Both Latino and non-Latino women likely to accept HPV vaccination for selves an...( Most women responding to a survey co...),Health

Most women responding to a survey conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) clinics indicated they would be willing to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) and to have their daughters and even sons vaccinated in order to prevent cancer in their children. The report in the March issue of Gynecologic Oncology also found that Latino women are just as likely, if not more so, to accept HPV vaccine as non-Latinos.

"Since the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer are higher among Latino women in the U.S., we were interested in whether the vaccine acceptance rate in this high-risk population was the same as for non-Latino women," says Marcela del Carmen, MD, a gynecologic oncology surgeon at the MGH Cancer Center and senior author of the study. "Overall, our results show that both Latino and non-Latino women are more likely to accept HPV vaccination for themselves and their children than previous reports have suggested."

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, and vaccination is primarily designed to prevent cervical cancer in women. HPV infection also can cause genital warts and other genital tumors, including cancer of the penis or anus in males. Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women and the third most common cause of cancer death. Cervical cancer rates in the U.S. are significantly higher in minority women, and Latino women have a 40 percent greater risk of dying from the disease than non-Latino white women do.

Vaccination against the strains of HPV that cause most cases of cervical cancer has been available for several years, but the authors note that several factors have limited its use including incomplete knowledge among both patients and health care providers, costs and insurance coverage, and concerns about safety. To examine factors that might promote or inhibit vaccine acceptibility, the researchers surveyed adult women at three MGH clinica
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