The Association of a Lower Risk of Fibromyalgia with Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: A Retrospective Cohort Study...

Remarkably similar symptoms have been observed between fibromyalgia patients and those who present adverse events after HPV vaccination. However, no research has been conducted on their association.

Using data from the US collaborative network within the TriNetX network, we identified all the females who had had an HPV vaccination within 1 year before an index date falling between 2016 and 2023. We selected a propensity-score-matched (PSM, 1:1 ratio), non-HPV-vaccinated cohort as the comparator. Both cohorts were followed up from 1 day after the index date until the diagnosis of incidental fibromyalgia or until the patient was lost to the follow-up process or until the end of 2023.

After PSM, a total of 421,564 females in the HPV-vaccinated cohort and 421,564 females in the non-HPV-vaccinated cohort were included in the study. Significantly lower risks of developing fibromyalgia after 5 years' follow-up were consistent in different models after adjusting for different covariates (adjusted hazard ratios [aHRs]: 0.505, 0.665, and 0.601). Also, significantly lower risks of incident fibromyalgia were identified across different follow-up periods, namely, 1 day to 1 year (HR: 0.464; 95% CI, 0.386-0.559), 1 day to 3 years (HR: 0.553; 95% CI, 0.494-0.618), 1 day to 5 years (HR: 0.601; 95% CI, 0.549-0.658), and 1 day to 7 years (HR: 0.636; 95% CI, 0.587-0.690).

This study demonstrates that HPV vaccination significantly decreases the risk of developing incident fibromyalgia across different follow-up periods and subgroups. Our study suggests that HPV vaccination may potentially reduce the risk of developing fibromyalgia in female patients, which needs validation through studies of the mechanisms involved.