Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Jul 26, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 26, 2021 - Aug 9, 2021
Date Accepted: Oct 13, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Dec 7, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Accuracy of self-reported human papillomavirus vaccination status among gay and bisexual adolescent males: a cross-sectional study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Men who have sex with men are a risk group for anal human papillomavirus (HPV) and anal cancer. Australia introduced the universal school-based HPV vaccination program in 2013. Self-reported HPV vaccination status has been widely used in clinical and research settings, but its accuracy is understudied.
Objective:
We aimed to examine the accuracy of self-reported HPV vaccination status among gay and bisexual adolescent males.
Methods:
In 2017-2018, 200 gay and bisexual men aged 16-20 years were recruited to the HYPER2 study in Melbourne, Australia. All men had been eligible for the universal school-based HPV vaccination program implemented in 2013 and were asked to self-report their HPV vaccination status. Separated written informed consent was obtained to verify their HPV vaccination status using records at the National HPV Vaccination Program Register and the Australian Immunisation Register. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of self-reported HPV vaccination status.
Results:
The mean age of the 200 males was 18.8 (SD=1.0) years. There were 142 males (71%) who had HPV vaccination records documented on either registry. Self-reported HPV vaccination had a sensitivity of 49.3% (95% CI: 40.8-57.8%; 70/142), a specificity of 87.9% (95% CI: 76.7-95.0%; 51/58), a positive predictive value of 90.9% (95% CI: 83.0-95.3%; 70/77) and a negative predictive value of 41.5% (95% CI: 37.0-46.1%; 51/123).
Conclusions:
Self-reported HPV vaccination status among Australian gay and bisexual adolescent males underestimates actual vaccination and may be inaccurate for clinical and research purposes.
Citation
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Copyright
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