Preventive
David J. Lee, DDS
Resident
University of Texas — Houston, Houston, TX
UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry
Houston, Texas, United States
Meghna Dara, DDS, MPH candidate
UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston
Alice K. Pazmino, DDS, MSD, MBA
UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston
Ana C. Neumann, DDS, MPH, PhD
UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston
Gisela V. V. Bona, DDS, MS
Associate Professor
University of Texas-Houston
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
Bhavani Acharya, DDS
Program Director
UT School of Dentistry at Houston
Houston, Texas, United States
Purpose: The aim of this study is to establish the HPV vaccination rates among pediatric patients at the UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston (UTSD). For unvaccinated patients, we categorized the reasons for not receiving the vaccine and assessed the intention of receiving the vaccine at UTSD.
Methods: Patients in ages 8 to 19 answered questions on HPV vaccine status during dental visits and structured responses were recorded on the electronic health records. We performed automated queries to establish the proportion of vaccinated patients and frequency distributions to categorize the reasons for not receiving the vaccine.
Results: Responses from 318 patients [Female=59%; age 8 or younger: 6.5%; 9-12: 54%; 13-17: 37%; 18-19: 2.5%] were collected from 02/21/22 to 01/09/23. Nearly 46% received HPV vaccination, showing 9% lower vaccination rate when compared to the national rate of 55%. There was no statistically significant difference between in numbers of vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients [z=1.52, p=.05, 95% CI [0.40, 0.51]]. Among the patients who have not received the vaccine, 47.3% were interested in getting more information, and 21.3% were willing to receive the vaccine at UTSD. There were missing responses of 11.2% and 19.5%, respectively. The main reason for vaccine hesitancy was due to preference at pediatrician’s office (13.6%).
Conclusions: This study is the first to establish the rate of HPV vaccination status among pediatric patients at UTSD. There is a need and opportunity to educate patients on the importance of HPV as a cancer vaccine and increase the vaccination rates.