Impact of HPV vaccination on high-risk HPV prevalence in 25-29-year-old women attending cervical screening in England 2016-2025
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background In England, a national school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme was introduced in September 2008. Routine vaccination against HPV16/18 is offered to girls aged 12-13 and a ‘catch-up’ offer ran for girls aged 14-18 during the programme’s first two years. Methods Data from 19,407 women aged 25-29yrs attending cervical screening across England 2016-2025 were collected and residual samples from 4,837 high-risk (HR) HPV-screening-positive women were genotyped to monitor type-specific HR-HPV prevalence and evaluate vaccination impact. Results Type-specific HR-HPV results were available for 3,683 HR-HPV-screen-positive samples. Estimated age-adjusted prevalence of HPV16 and HPV18 was 91% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 87-94%) and 84% (95%CI: 65-93%) lower respectively among routine-eligible women than vaccination-ineligible women. Large declines were also observed for HPV31 (85% [95%CI: 72-92%]) and HPV45 (84% [95%CI: 73-90%]) but not for other HR-HPV types. Among 618 women with cytological abnormalities, HPV16/18 was present in samples from 53.9% (95%CI: 34.8-73.1%) of vaccination-ineligible, 18.1% (95%CI: 13.5-22.7%) of catch-up-eligible, and 6.5% (95%CI: 3.6-9.3%) of routine-eligible women. Conclusions The early years of the HPV vaccination programme in England conferred strong protection against HPV16, 18, 31 and 45, and dramatically changed the target remaining for screening strategies to detect and reduce cervical disease.
Source: medRxiv
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214762098