Quadrivalent HPV Vaccine For Women Aged 24 to 45

Filed in archive Cancer, General , Sexual Health on June 17, 2009

According to clinical trial results reported at the June 2 Online First issue of The Lancet suggested that the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may be effective in women aged 24 to 45 years who are not infected with the relevant HPV types at enrollment in the said clinical trial.

From MedScape:

"Although the peak incidence of...HPV infection occurs in most populations within 5-10 years of first sexual experience, all women remain at risk for acquisition of HPV infections," write Nubia Muñoz, MD, from the National Institute of Cancer in Bogotá, Colombia, and colleagues. "We tested the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of the quadrivalent HPV (types 6, 11, 16, 18) L1 virus-like-particle vaccine in women aged 24-45 years."

The main efficacy outcome measures were 6 months' or more duration of infection and cervical and external genital disease caused by HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18 (first coprimary endpoint) and caused by HPV 16 and 18 alone (second coprimary endpoint).

Efficacy against the first coprimary endpoint in the per-protocol population was 90.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 73.7 - 97.5; 4/1615 cases in the vaccine group vs 41/1607 in the placebo group). Against the second coprimary endpoint, efficacy was 83.1% (95% CI, 50.6 - 95.8; 4/1601 cases vs 23/1579 cases).

Currently available HPV Vaccine are for women aged 11 to 26. Also in women aged 13 through 26 who did not get any or all of the shots when they were younger. Read more from CDC.

Photo Credit.