C18-P: What Is the Prevalence of Hpv Cases Among Males and Females Based on Their History of Hpv Vaccination?

With both of us having majors and interests in public health, we focused our research area on a huge topic in that field right now: vaccinations. Not only are vaccinations extremely important in reducing the burden of infectious diseases, but can also reduce inequity, disability, and death[7]. We decided to research vaccinations in terms of the Human Papilloma Virus, an extremely common sexually transmitted infection that also has the potential to cause cancer. Our research question focused on the differences in vaccination rates between males and females in terms of the HPV vaccine to explore whether different genders held different attitudes towards vaccines. Specifically, our study question was “what is the prevalence of HPV cases among males and females based on their history of HPV vaccination?” The study used secondary data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES, a continuous annual survey given out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health agency. This specific data was collected from participants across the United States from the years of 2013 and 2014. After using SAS, a statistical analysis software, although there was no significant difference between HPV vaccination status and HPV contraction, we found there were discrepancies between male and female occurrences of HPV vaccinations and HPV contraction, in addition to many differences from confounding variables of race, age, and annual family income. This information allows for further research into how to create more successful public health interventions and health education tools to target specific genders or demographic groups with the overall goal of increasing vaccination rates. This is relevant to any career in the public health, health science, or medical field, where vaccine promotion and education is one of the most important tools to protecting our communities.

Authors: Anna Kaiser and Victoria Schwahn

Faculty Advisor: Saruna Ghimire, Sociology and Gerontology