• Posted December 2, 2024

Cervical Cancer Deaths Fell Dramatically After Advent of HPV Vaccine

A new study provides good evidence that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may be achieving its goal of slashing rates of cervical cancer.

“We observed a … 62% drop in cervical cancer deaths over the last decade, likely due to HPV vaccination,” said study senior author Ashish Deshmukh. “We cannot think of any other reason that would have contributed to such a marked decline.”

Deshmukh is co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at the Medical University of South Carolina's Hollings Cancer Center.

HPV, a common sexually transmitted infection, is thought to cause the vast majority of cervical cancer cases. First introduced and approved in the United States in 2006, HPV vaccines such as Gardasil and Cervarix have revolutionized cervical cancer prevention and care.

It takes time to see vaccination translated into real world outcomes, such as a decline in cancer deaths. 

But studies focused on earlier markers -- HPV infection, precancer and new cases of cervical cancer -- had suggested that widespread vaccination among adolescents and young women might be having an impact.

The new study tracked U.S. deaths among women under the age of 25 from the beginning of the 1990s through 2021. Such deaths at a very young age are rare, but Deshmukh and colleagues said that tracking them is a good indicator of whether vaccines might be working.

They pointed out that in 2021, women who were 25 would have been 10 years old in 2006, when the vaccine was first introduced.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that HPV vaccines be given to adolescents at ages 11 to 12, before the typical start of sexual activity.

The team found that between 50 and 60 women under the age of 25 died of cervical cancer during every three-year block of time throughout the 1990s.

However, between 2019 and 2021, that rate had fallen by nearly two-thirds, to 13 deaths over those three years.

Of course, girls and women can only be protected by the HPV vaccine if they are immunized, Deshmukh said. The CDC has set a goal of an 80% vaccination rate, but its data for 2024 show that only about 60% of 13-to -15-year-olds have received the recommended doses.

“There has been a decline in HPV vaccination post COVID-19 in the most recent generation of U.S. adolescent," Deshmukh said in a university news release.  "This is troubling, as a decline in vaccination uptake would potentially lead to smaller gains [against cervical cancer]."

The findings were published Nov. 27 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

Find out more about current recommendations for HPV vaccination at the American Academy of Pediatrics.

SOURCE: Medical University of South Carolina, news release, Nov. 27, 2024