The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published new findings in Journal of the National Cancer Institute in August indicating that women who received the HPV vaccine do not need to be screened for cervical cancer as often as previously recommended. Current national US screening guidelines do not differentiate between women who received HPV vaccination and those who did not. The research evaluated women who received either the bivalent or quadrivalent vaccines at the recommended ages of 11 or ...
In June, Cervical Cancer Free Coalition submitted a written testimony to Congress in support of cervical cancer activities. Read the full testimony here: Testimony for Senate SFOPS from CCFC!
Using data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) compared HPV prevalence from the pre-vaccine era and 4 years during the vaccine era. Researchers have found a 64% decrease in prevalence of HPV types 16, 18, 6, and 11 among women ages 14 to 19, and a 34% decrease among women ages 20-24. The U.S. News and World Report article can be read here, and the journal article, ...
The results of a study of 1,180 13-26 year old Cincinnati women provide evidence of herd immunity as a result of HPV vaccination. Their observational study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases in October, note a greater than 30% decrease in prevalence of HPV among unvaccinated women. Researchers compared women before widespread vaccination was introduced, and then 3 and 7 years after vaccine introduction. The news article about the study can be read here, and the full study can be ...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recently convened a multidisciplinary panel of health care and patient advocacy experts to provide evidence-based recommendations on secondary prevention of cervical cancer around the world. Their report, entitled “Secondary Prevention of Cervical Cancer: Resource-Stratified Clinical Practice Guideline”, was published in the Journal of Global Oncology in October 2016. The guidelines cover recommended age ranges for and frequency of testing, methods of testing, treatment options, and screening practices in four resource settings: maximal, ...
Following its meeting in late October, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended that patients ages 11-12 receive two doses of the HPV vaccine. The recommendation was made after a comprehensive literature review, finding that a two-dose schedule for younger adolescents (9-14 years old) produced a comparable immune response to that produced through the 3-dose schedule for young adults 16-26 years old. Those who begin the series at later ages (>14 years) are still recommended to receive ...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has published its first resource-stratified guidelines on the clinical practice of invasive cervical cancer. The report, published in the Journal of Global Oncology (May, 2016), classifies the new recommendations into four tiers: basic, limited, enhanced, and maximal.
Some of the key recommendations are:
In basic settings where patients cannot be treated with radiation therapy, extrafascial hysterectomy either alone or after chemotherapy may be an option for women with stage IA1 to IVA cervical cancer. Concurrent ...
A recent study published in the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease (Aril, 2016) found that women diagnosed with cervical cancer were more likely to report being physically inactive than women without cervical cancer. The case-control study included 128 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer and 512 women who were not diagnosed with cervical cancer. Both groups of women completed a questionnaire about their physical activity defined by the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines defined “inactive” physical activity ...
According to a preliminary study, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may have helped more women get early treatment for cervical cancer. The rate of young women whose cervical cancers were found and treated early increased from 71% before 2010, when the ACA expanded insurance coverage to allowing young people to remain on their parents’ health plans, to 79% in the period following the ACA expansion.
The incidence of head and neck cancer due to HPV-related oropharynx cancer has been increasing for men in the United States. The increase is taking place so fast that by 2020 the occurrence of this disease will be higher than HPV-related cervical cancer. Researchers do not know the exact reason for the increase, but some experts consider it to be caused by oral sex. Other experts attribute this to different lifestyle factors such as smoking. The HPV vaccine should prevent ...