HPV vaccination might be reducing poor pregnancy outcomes
Preventing, rather than treating, cervical cancers has welcome spin-off benefits, researchers say
Australia’s HPV vaccination program might have prevented thousands of preterm births and small-for-gestational-age infants, a study suggests.
Together with routine cervical screening, high vaccine coverage rates appear to have led to improved pregnancy outcomes through the reduction of HPV infections, precancerous abnormalities and cervical cancer treatments.
Researchers, led by the Cancer Council NSW, compared rates of preterm births, small-for-gestational-age and low-birth-weight infants born between 2000 and 2015 to determine the impact of the national