ACOG: HPV vaccine reduces abnormal cytology diagnoses

Vaccine may prevent virus-associated squamous intraepithelial lesions in young women

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2010 -- Vaccination with the AS04-adjuvanted HPV-16 and HPV-18 vaccine* is associated with significantly reduced abnormal cytology diagnoses in young women, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in San Francisco.

Mark G. Martens, M.D., of Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, and colleagues from the HPV PATRICIA Study Group studied 9,319 women ages 15-25 who received the HPV-16 and HPV-18 vaccine and 9,325 controls who received hepatitis A vaccine at zero, one, and six months. They collected cervical samples every six months for HPV DNA typing and performed gynecologic and cytopathologic examinations every 12 months.