Mehtab Bal
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Mentor(s): Sherri Sheinfeld Gorin
Co-Presenter: Sohrabi, Caitlin
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Department of Family Medicine / Medicine
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 5 – 3:40pm – 4:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Mehtab Bal, Nathan Bolen, Rebecca Hyman, Rachel Simmermon, Caitlin Sohrabi, Sherri Shienfeld Gorin
Presenter: 112
Abstract
Introduction: The human papilloma Virus is the most common sexually transmitted infection and it is the leading cause of oropharyngeal and cervical cancer in the United States. Over 90% of these cancers caused by HPV are preventable through completion of the HPV vaccination series. There has been abundant research done to promote the use of HPV vaccine in the United States and curb barriers towards getting the HPV vaccine, yet to this day vaccine initiation rates in Michigan are at 54% for females and 38.8% for males, and vaccine completion rates in Michigan are at 16.7% for males and 32.8% for females. Through a systematic review this study aims to evaluate these decreased vaccine rates while offering better interventions to increase HPV vaccine uptake and lower vaccine hesitancy in rural Michigan. Methods: A systematic search across Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Cochrane, Sociological Abstracts and Scopus databases was conducted by a University of Michigan Medical Librarian, resulting in 97 publications that met the pre-specified inclusion criteria for full-text review. Included publications are written in English and report measures regarding rural HPV vaccine uptake in the United States from 2010-2021. Publications that are incomplete or do not report measures, such as abstracts, protocols, commentaries, and reviews, were excluded. Using a standard codebook, the papers were independently reviewed, coded and extracted study characteristics, and findings from each publication. Two team members then compared their results. Disagreements were adjudicated by a third member to ensure reliability Results: 5 studies reviewed showed that vaccination rates were significantly lower in rural areas (45.1%) compared to urban areas (50.7%), which may be due to factors such as transportation costs and unawareness regarding HPV vaccine and its doses in rural areas. Along with that geographical research indicates vaccine initiation was higher among those who resided in the Northeast (38.6%), followed by Midwest/West (23.8%), and lowest for those in the South (21.8%). Research also suggested that the overall HPV and HPV vaccination rates are decreasing by 6.2% and 8% for male and female adults from 2013-2018 and that intentions to vaccinate were low in rural areas. Discussion: The studies suggest future interventions on improving accessibility to the HPV by creating easy to access locations in rural areas and by creating innovative channels to disseminate information on HPV and HPV vaccine to populations in rural areas to increase intentions to vaccinate and increase HPV vaccine uptake. Additionally, studies suggest future research on public health interventions to reduce urban vs rural disparities in HPV vaccination.
Biomedical Sciences, Public Health
