Human papillomavirus vaccines: factors that affect vaccine knowledge and delivery

Although both vaccines are designed to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, HPV2 and HPV4 have different indications. This study sought to determine HPV and HPV vaccine knowledge among providers and examine factors affecting HPV vaccine delivery.

An e-mail survey was sent to adolescent health care providers via listserv.

Provider HPV vaccine knowledge level and number of providers offering vaccine to males (84%) were high. The ability of providers to correctly distinguish between the two vaccines was associated with years in practice, proportion of female patients, provider subspecialty status, and practicing in a hospital setting.

This study demonstrates that adolescent medicine providers, in particular, are knowledgeable about HPV and HPV vaccines. They reported routinely offering HPV vaccine to male patients during the time before the recent change in recommendation for universal, routine HPV vaccination of males by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.