Knowledge and Awareness of HPV, the HPV Vaccine and Cancer-Related HPV Types among Indigenous Australians

Lucy Lockwood, Xiangqun Ju (), Sneha Sethi, Joanne Hedges and Lisa Jamieson
Additional contact information
Lucy Lockwood: Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia
Xiangqun Ju: Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia
Sneha Sethi: Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia
Joanne Hedges: Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia
Lisa Jamieson: Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection is a common, preventable, sexually transmitted disease with oncogenic potential and increasing incidence. This study aimed to gain an understanding of the knowledge and awareness of HPV, the HPV vaccine, and HPV-related cancers, and to evaluate the relationship between participant factors and HPV knowledge, vaccination uptake, and high-risk HPV (16/18) infection, among Indigenous Australians. Data from the 12-month follow-up of a longitudinal cohort study were utilized, involving 763 Indigenous Australian adults in South Australia. The data analysis found that the mean 7-item HPV knowledge tool (HPV-KT) score was 2.3 (95% CI: 2.1–2.4), HPV vaccination prevalence was 27.0% (95% CI: 23.6–30.5) and oral HPV 16/18 infection was 4.7% (95% CI: 3.2–6.2). Multivariable log-Poisson regression models showed ratios of approximately 1.5 times higher HPV-KT scores in females, previous recreational drug users, those who had self-rated as having excellent, very good or good general health and who had heard of HPV; and participants who were not HPV vaccinated had 0.8 times (MR = 0.8, 95% CI: 0.7–0.9) lower HPV-KT scores than their counterparts. The findings suggest that culturally safe education strategies are a necessary investment to improve vaccination coverage among Indigenous Australians and to reduce the impact of HPV and related cancers.

Keywords: human papilloma virus; Indigenous Australian; knowledge and awareness; HPV vaccine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/307/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/307/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:3:p:307-:d:1352507

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().