• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Poorer Women & Girls Have Higher Risk of Cancer From Human Papillomavirus (HPV), According to New Cincinnati Children's Study

Posted on: Friday, 29 June 2007, 00:04 CDT

CINCINNATI, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study by researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has found that poorer women and girls are more likely than those with incomes above the poverty line to be infected with types of human papillomavirus (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and some types put women at a higher risk of developing cervical cancer.

The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the official publication of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), found that women and girls from families with incomes below the poverty line have twice as high a rate of infection with the HPV types that may cause cancer when compared to women living at least three times above the poverty line, (22.7% vs. 11.5%).

The study, funded by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the American Cancer Society and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, is believed to be the first to examine the relationship between poverty and HPV infection using a sample representative of the U.S. population. It provides insight into prevention strategies, an issue of increasing significance now that a vaccine is available to protect against HPV.

"The finding that poverty is a strong predictor of high-risk HPV infection tells us that cervical cancer prevention efforts must focus even greater intensity on ensuring that all low-income women and girls have access to preventive services, including education, Pap test screening and HPV vaccines," says Jessica Kahn, M.D., a physician in the division of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's and the study's lead author. "Because low-income girls and women often lack access to health care services, they may be less likely to get the vaccine, but are clearly more likely to benefit from it since they are at higher risk. We need to redouble our efforts because otherwise, existing disparities in cervical cancer could widen even further."

The study was conducted using a database of women between the ages of 14 and 59 who voluntarily participated in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This survey, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was designed to collect information about health and nutrition in the United States. NHANES is intended to estimate the number and percent of individuals and designated subgroups with selected diseases and risk factors, to analyze risk factors for selected diseases, to explore emerging public health issues and to establish and maintain a probability sample of baseline information on health and nutritional status.

All participants interviewed for NHANES were asked to complete a health examination component, which included providing a vaginal swab for HPV testing. Of those eligible, nearly 2,000 women submitted swabs adequate for analysis, and these were evaluated for 37 types of HPV.

Dr. Kahn and her colleagues performed analyses of the NHANES data to evaluate the relationship between HPV status and participants' age, race, ethnicity, educational attainment, marital status, household income and level of poverty. As in a previous study, the Cincinnati Children's researchers found that women in their early to mid 20s had the highest prevalence rates of high risk types of HPV infection.

The data also showed that 13 percent of girls between 14 and 17 tested positive for high-risk (cancer-associated) HPV, which supports current national recommendations to target vaccination to 11- and 12-year-old girls, "before the commencement of sexual activity and, therefore, before HPV exposure," says Dr. Kahn.

"Overall, the key to lowering HPV rates and cervical cancer is to ensure universal access by all women to prevention strategies such as HPV vaccines" said Dr. Kahn, who noted that she hopes that additional HPV types will be included in future vaccines. "But our study shows that even with an emphasis on universal access, we need to focus particular efforts on poorer women and girls, because their risks are greater and their access to prevention may be lower."

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, one of the leading pediatric research institutions in the nation, is dedicated to changing the outcome for children throughout the world. Cincinnati Children's ranks second among all pediatric institutions in the United States in grants from the National Institutes of Health. It has an established tradition of research excellence, with discoveries including the Sabin oral polio vaccine, the surfactant preparation that saves the lives of thousands of premature infants each year, and a rotavirus vaccine that saves the lives of hundreds of thousands of infants around the world each year. Current strategic directions include the translation of basic laboratory research into the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of disease, and furthering the development of personalized and predictive medicine. Additional information can be found at http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

CONTACT: Amy Caruso of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital MedicalCenter, +1-513-636-5637, Amy.caruso@cchmc.org

Web site: http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/

Source: PRNewswire

More News in this Category