Oropharyngeal Cancer and the HPV Vaccine: Analysis of Social Media Content

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a well-documented cause of cervical, oropharyngeal, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and penile cancers, largely preventable with the HPV vaccine. We aim to characterize the most popular TikTok videos pertaining to HPV-associated cancers and vaccination with a focus on oropharyngeal cancer.

Observational study of public social media content. The top 200 TikTok videos that appeared when searching for #HPVvaccine and #Gardasil individually were included and analyzed on the basis of creator characteristics, viewer reach, content, and accessibility. Characteristics of each video were counted if mentioned or listed in the caption.

Forty-four percent of videos originated from creators self-identifying as health care professionals and had an average of 129,525 (SD: 59,997) views. 72.0% were pro-vaccination, and 17.5% were specifically anti-vaccination. Only 14.0% mentioned all six types of HPV-related cancer (including oropharyngeal). Other mentions included HPV prevention (62.0%), transmission (31.0%), infection risk factors (12.0%), and vaccine side effects (23.0%), while only 7.5% specifically regarded vaccines as safe. 35.5% of creators identified the Gardasil vaccine as appropriate for both men and women.

Medical professionals have a strong presence on TikTok and overwhelmingly support HPV vaccination for cancer prevention but miss the mark in associating high-risk HPV with non-cervical cancers, addressing vaccine safety, and clearly defining who is eligible for the HPV vaccine/Gardasil. Despite oropharyngeal cancer eclipsing cervical cancer as the most common HPV-related malignancy, there is still a dearth of online patient education about this disease and the potential treatment/prevention measures available.