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Study suggests that vaccinating boys against HPV is a cost-effective strategy to prevent cancer
Posted On: May 15, 2015
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From 1992 to 2007 in Canada, the incidence of oropharyngeal cancers in men increased by 1.5% per year, which is approximately twice as high as the increase observed in women.
Almost all cervical cancers, which develop at the bottom of the uterus, are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). To prevent women from developing cervical cancer, many governments fund programs to immunize adolescent girls against HPV.
It is less well known that HPV can also cause oropharyngeal (OP) cancer, which grows at the back of the throat. OP cancer is projected to become the most common HPV-related cancer in the United States by 2020. Given that the incidence of OP cancer is increasing rapidly among men, policy makers and researchers are debating whether or not to expand HPV vaccination programs to include adolescent boys.
A study led by Dr. Lillian Siu, a Clinical Researcher at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, suggests that the cost of providing the vaccine to adolescent boys is much lower than the cost incurred from them developing OP cancer later in life.
For this study, researchers developed a mathematical model that incorporates the incidence of OP cancers in Canadian men, the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine and the cost of treating OP cancers and providing the HPV vaccine. The model predicted that giving the vaccine to a group of 192,940 boys who were 12 years old in 2012 could potentially save between $8 and $28 million over the course of their lifetime.
Dr. Siu explains, “It is important to note that the model that we developed did not consider all possible factors that could influence the incidence of OP cancers, such as the effect of vaccinating most adolescent girls against HPV and other causes of OP cancers such as smoking; however, we hope that the results from this study will raise awareness about oropharyngeal cancer in men and will lead to further assessment of this important public health issue.”
This work was supported by the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of human papillomavirus vaccination of boys for the prevention of oropharyngeal cancer. Graham DM, Isaranuwatchai W, Habbous S, de Oliveira C, Liu G, Siu LL, Hoch JS. Cancer. 2015 Apr 13 [Pubmed abstract]
It is less well known that HPV can also cause oropharyngeal (OP) cancer, which grows at the back of the throat. OP cancer is projected to become the most common HPV-related cancer in the United States by 2020. Given that the incidence of OP cancer is increasing rapidly among men, policy makers and researchers are debating whether or not to expand HPV vaccination programs to include adolescent boys.
A study led by Dr. Lillian Siu, a Clinical Researcher at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, suggests that the cost of providing the vaccine to adolescent boys is much lower than the cost incurred from them developing OP cancer later in life.
For this study, researchers developed a mathematical model that incorporates the incidence of OP cancers in Canadian men, the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine and the cost of treating OP cancers and providing the HPV vaccine. The model predicted that giving the vaccine to a group of 192,940 boys who were 12 years old in 2012 could potentially save between $8 and $28 million over the course of their lifetime.
Dr. Siu explains, “It is important to note that the model that we developed did not consider all possible factors that could influence the incidence of OP cancers, such as the effect of vaccinating most adolescent girls against HPV and other causes of OP cancers such as smoking; however, we hope that the results from this study will raise awareness about oropharyngeal cancer in men and will lead to further assessment of this important public health issue.”
This work was supported by the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of human papillomavirus vaccination of boys for the prevention of oropharyngeal cancer. Graham DM, Isaranuwatchai W, Habbous S, de Oliveira C, Liu G, Siu LL, Hoch JS. Cancer. 2015 Apr 13 [Pubmed abstract]