Beliefs about HPV vaccination and awareness of vaccination status: Gender differences among Northern Italy adolescents

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101570

. 2021 Sep 24:24:101570.

doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101570. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Beliefs about HPV vaccination and awareness of vaccination status: Gender differences among Northern Italy adolescents

Laura Brunelli^{1

2}, Giulia Bravo¹, Federico Romanese^{1

3}, Marco Righini¹, Lucia Lesa^{1

4}, Anna De Odorico¹, Elisa Bastiani⁵, Stefania Pascut⁶, Stefano Miceli⁷, Silvio Brusaferro¹

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Area Medica, Università di Udine, Udine, Italy.
² SOC Accreditamento e Qualità, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.
³ Dipartimento di Prevenzione, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Giuliano Isontina, Trieste, Italy.
⁴ Direzione Medica di Presidio, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.
⁵ Clinica di Malattie Infettive, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.
⁶ Dipartimento di Salute e Benessere Sociale, Comune di Udine, Udine, Italy.
⁷ Dipartimento di Prevenzione, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.

PMID: 34976634
PMCID: PMC8683877
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101570

Beliefs about HPV vaccination and awareness of vaccination status: Gender differences among Northern Italy adolescents

Laura Brunelli et al. Prev Med Rep. 2021.

. 2021 Sep 24:24:101570.

doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101570. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Laura Brunelli^{1

2}, Giulia Bravo¹, Federico Romanese^{1

3}, Marco Righini¹, Lucia Lesa^{1

4}, Anna De Odorico¹, Elisa Bastiani⁵, Stefania Pascut⁶, Stefano Miceli⁷, Silvio Brusaferro¹

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Area Medica, Università di Udine, Udine, Italy.
² SOC Accreditamento e Qualità, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.
³ Dipartimento di Prevenzione, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Giuliano Isontina, Trieste, Italy.
⁴ Direzione Medica di Presidio, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.
⁵ Clinica di Malattie Infettive, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.
⁶ Dipartimento di Salute e Benessere Sociale, Comune di Udine, Udine, Italy.
⁷ Dipartimento di Prevenzione, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.

PMID: 34976634
PMCID: PMC8683877
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101570

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most frequent sexually transmitted infectious agents worldwide, and it is responsible for a significant burden of cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate HPV knowledge and awareness in a sample of Northeastern Italian adolescents and parental support available to them, in order to highlight potential room for improvement towards optimal HPV vaccination adherence. Between April and May 2018 an observational questionnaire-based study was conducted in 1st year students of secondary upper schools in Udine (Italy). We quantitatively evaluated HPV knowledge, awareness and parental support level of male and female adolescents. The contribution of sociodemographic characteristics to HPV vaccination knowledge and uptake were explored using Chi-Square or Fisher test and multivariate logistic. Knowledge about HPV vaccine resulted to be mostly insufficient among enrolled adolescents, with a worrying proportion of them believing that HPV vaccine was expected to prevent HIV/AIDS. Awareness about their vaccination status was poor, and more than half of them were not involved in HPV vaccine uptake deliberation. Girls performed better than boys in relation to knowledge, awareness and engagement. Our results support the hypothesis that HPV vaccine knowledge and uptake can be affected by some gender bias. Improvements in adolescent health education and vaccination strategies are needed to engage and finally protect both genders from HPV.

Keywords: Adolescents; Gender; HPV vaccine; Prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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References

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1. Bragazzi NL, Barberis I, Rosselli R, Gianfredi V, Nucci D, Moretti M, et al. How often people google for vaccination: Qualitative and quantitative insights from a systematic search of the web-based activities using Google Trends. Hum Vaccines Immunother [Internet]. 2017;13(2):464–9. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1264742. - PMC - PubMed
1. Brunelli L., Valent F., Romanese F., Tricarico P., Pellizzaro A., d’Angelo M., et al. Parental trust and beliefs after the discovery of a six-year-long failure to vaccinate. Hum. Vaccin. Immunother. [Internet] 2020;4:1–5. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2020.1777820 Available from. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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[1] Adjei Boakye E, Tobo BB, Rojek RP, Mohammed KA, Geneus CJ, Osazuwa-Peters N. Approaching a decade since HPV vaccine licensure: Racial and gender disparities in knowledge and awareness of HPV and HPV vaccine. Hum Vaccines Immunother [Internet]. 2017;13(11):2713–22. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1363133. - PMC - PubMed

[2] Adjei Boakye E, Tobo BB, Rojek RP, Mohammed KA, Geneus CJ, Osazuwa-Peters N. Approaching a decade since HPV vaccine licensure: Racial and gender disparities in knowledge and awareness of HPV and HPV vaccine. Hum Vaccines Immunother [Internet]. 2017;13(11):2713–22. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1363133. - PMC - PubMed

[3] Albright AE, Allen RS, 2018. HPV Misconceptions Among College Students: The Role of Health Literacy. J Community Health [Internet]. 2018;43(6):1192–200. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10900-018-0539-4. - PubMed

[4] Albright AE, Allen RS, 2018. HPV Misconceptions Among College Students: The Role of Health Literacy. J Community Health [Internet]. 2018;43(6):1192–200. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10900-018-0539-4. - PubMed

[5] Bianco A, Mascaro V, Zucco R, Pavia M. Parent perspectives on childhood vaccination: How to deal with vaccine hesitancy and refusal? Vaccine [Internet]. 2019;37(7):984–90. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.12.062. - PubMed

[6] Bianco A, Mascaro V, Zucco R, Pavia M. Parent perspectives on childhood vaccination: How to deal with vaccine hesitancy and refusal? Vaccine [Internet]. 2019;37(7):984–90. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.12.062. - PubMed

[7] Bragazzi NL, Barberis I, Rosselli R, Gianfredi V, Nucci D, Moretti M, et al. How often people google for vaccination: Qualitative and quantitative insights from a systematic search of the web-based activities using Google Trends. Hum Vaccines Immunother [Internet]. 2017;13(2):464–9. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1264742. - PMC - PubMed

[8] Bragazzi NL, Barberis I, Rosselli R, Gianfredi V, Nucci D, Moretti M, et al. How often people google for vaccination: Qualitative and quantitative insights from a systematic search of the web-based activities using Google Trends. Hum Vaccines Immunother [Internet]. 2017;13(2):464–9. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1264742. - PMC - PubMed

[9] Brunelli L., Valent F., Romanese F., Tricarico P., Pellizzaro A., d’Angelo M., et al. Parental trust and beliefs after the discovery of a six-year-long failure to vaccinate. Hum. Vaccin. Immunother. [Internet] 2020;4:1–5. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2020.1777820 Available from. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[10] Brunelli L., Valent F., Romanese F., Tricarico P., Pellizzaro A., d’Angelo M., et al. Parental trust and beliefs after the discovery of a six-year-long failure to vaccinate. Hum. Vaccin. Immunother. [Internet] 2020;4:1–5. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2020.1777820 Available from. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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Beliefs about HPV vaccination and awareness of vaccination status: Gender differences among Northern Italy adolescents

Affiliations

Beliefs about HPV vaccination and awareness of vaccination status: Gender differences among Northern Italy adolescents

Authors

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