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Incidence of cervical lesions in Danish women before and after implementation of a national HPV vaccination program

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Abstract

Purpose

Approximately 70 % of cervical cancers and about 50 % of high-grade cervical precursor lesions are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18. Denmark introduced the quadrivalent HPV vaccine into the vaccination program for 12-year-old girls in 2009 supplemented by a first catch-up program for 13–15-year-old girls in 2008, and a second program for women up to the age of 27 years in 2012; all with high vaccination coverage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine by comparing the incidence trends of cervical lesions before and after its introduction.

Methods

Incident cases of cervical lesions were identified from the nationwide Pathology Data Bank. Age-specific incidence rates were estimated for six age groups, and Poisson regression was used to calculate estimated annual percentage change (EAPC).

Results

The incidence of atypia or worse (atypia+) and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+) increased in all age groups in 2000–2010. After introduction of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine into the vaccination program, the incidence of atypia+ decreased significantly in women younger than 18 years (EAPC −33.4 %; 95 % CI −49.6; −12.0) and in 18–20-year-old women (EAPC −12.6 %; 95 % CI −19.3; −5.3). The incidence of CIN2+ also decreased significantly in 18–20-year-old women (EAPC −14.8 %; 95 % CI −21.6; −7.5) in 2010–2013, but no significant decrease was seen in older age groups.

Conclusion

The incidence of cervical lesions decreased significantly in age groups with high HPV vaccine coverage, indicating an early effect of HPV vaccination.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Mermaid project (MERMAID II).

Conflict of interest

Birgitte Baldur-Felskov and Christian Dehlendorff declare no potential conflicts of interest. Jette Junge received advisory board fee from Sanofi Pasteur MSD and consultant fee from Merck. Christian Munk received travel and speaker’s fees from Sanofi Pasteur MSD. Susanne K. Kjaer received advisory board and speaker’s fees and institutional research grants from Sanofi Pasteur MSD and Merck.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virus, Lifestyle and Genes, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Birgitte Baldur-Felskov, Christian Munk & Susanne K. Kjaer

  2. Statistics, Bioinformatics and Registry, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Christian Dehlendorff

  3. Department of Pathology, Hvidovre University Hospital, 2650, Hvidovre, Denmark

    Jette Junge

  4. Gynaecological Clinic, Juliane Marie Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Susanne K. Kjaer

Authors
  1. Birgitte Baldur-Felskov
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  2. Christian Dehlendorff
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  3. Jette Junge
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  4. Christian Munk
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  5. Susanne K. Kjaer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susanne K. Kjaer.

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Disclaimer: The sponsor of the study had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing the report. The corresponding author had full access to all the data and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.

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Baldur-Felskov, B., Dehlendorff, C., Junge, J. et al. Incidence of cervical lesions in Danish women before and after implementation of a national HPV vaccination program. Cancer Causes Control 25, 915–922 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0392-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0392-4

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