New Delhi, Dec 20 || The Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, known for preventing cervical cancer, can also help safeguard against precancerous lesions of the vulva and vagina in girls and women, according to a study.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, showed that women who received at least 1 dose of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine had a 37 per cent lower incidence of high-grade vulvovaginal lesions than those unvaccinated.
The incidence reduction of high-grade vulvovaginal lesions was statistically significant among women vaccinated at 10 to 16 years, as their rate of vaginal or vulvar precancers was 57 per cent lower compared to unvaccinated women.
“The findings emphasise the critical role of HPV vaccination initiated at an early age. The enhanced risk reduction in younger women may be attributable to the reduced probability of prior HPV exposure before vaccination,” said researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
The team conducted a cohort study of 7,78,943 women, born from 1985 to 1998 and living in Sweden from 2006 to 2022.