“We couldn’t directly look at sexual activity, so we looked at external outcomes that would suggest sexual activity,” said Dr. Robert Bednarczyk, clinical investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research Southeast, and lead author of the study.
The study is based on the assumption that girls who engage in sexual activity would seek care for a sexually transmitted disease, ask for contraception or become pregnant.
According to some experts, the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine are more concerning to many parents than whether their child will see it as a gateway to sexual activity. Still, the findings are reassuring to a smaller group of parents who may see this it as a reason to be apprehensive.
“Those of us who work with adolescents are happy to use this information in discussing the vaccine with parents,” said Dr. Eve Shapiro, a pediatrician in Tucson, Ariz.
In previous surveys, adolescent girls reported that they would not be more likely engage in sexual activity if they got the vaccine.
“We did a clinical validation of the self reported data,” said Bednarczyk. “This is reassuring to physicians and the parents that the concern doesn’t need to be there.”
The HPV vaccine does not protect against all strains of the virus or other types of sexual transmitted infections.
Still, adolescent girls should be counseled about the risks of having sex, regardless of whether they have received the vaccine, according to Dr. Linda Reid Chassiakos, director of the Klotz Student Health Center at California State University in Northridge.
“While the HPV vaccine is valuable, the provider needs to be explicit about its specific scope, and should discuss, at the age appropriate time, the risks of unprotected sexual activity,” she said.
Study: HPV Vaccine Does Not Lead To Increased Sex In Teen GirlsĀ was originally published on blackdoctor.org
