HPV Vaccine Did Not Increase Primary Ovarian Insufficiency Risk

Young women who received the recommended human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, were found not to have an increased risk of Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI).

According to this Kaiser Permanente study, ovarian insufficiency, which is also known as premature menopause, was seldom reported.

"In a population of 58,871 young women who received the HPV vaccine during the study period, we found only 1 case of an individual who possibly had symptoms of POI after vaccination," said Allison Naleway, Ph.D., lead study author and investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. 

"If POI is triggered by the HPV vaccine or another recommended adolescent vaccine, we would have expected to see higher incidence in the younger women who were most likely to be vaccinated.

“But we found no elevated risk for these individuals," said Dr. Naleway in a press release. 

Rates of HPV vaccination have lagged behind coverage rates for other recommended adolescent vaccinations. Based on national coverage estimates from 2016, 65 percent of 13 to 17-year-old females received at least one HPV vaccination and only 49.5 percent were up to date with the series.

While large studies have demonstrated the safety of HPV vaccination, parental safety concerns -- including the potential impact on future fertility -- are often cited as one reason for lower HPV coverage.

"Reports of premature menopause after HPV vaccination have received a lot of media attention, including on social media," said Dr. Naleway

"To bring clarity to this issue, we conducted a study of nearly 200,000 young women and found no elevated risk of POI after HPV or other recommended vaccinations."

Naleway and her team began by identifying 199,078 females age 11 to 34 with at least 30 days of health plan membership at Kaiser Permanente in the Northwest from August 2006 (when HPV vaccines became available at Kaiser Permanente) through the end of 2014.

HPV infections are so common that nearly all men and women will get at least one type of HPV at some point in their lives. Most people never know that they have been infected and may give HPV to a sex partner without knowing it, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

About 14 million people in the United States become newly infected each year.

The study was conducted under the auspices of the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a collaborative project involving eight integrated healthcare delivery systems and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study was supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Task Order 200-2012-53584-0006). The findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This research is important, since every year, approximately 19,400 women are affected by cancers caused by HPV, says the CDC.

HPV vaccination services are found in most pharmacies and physician offices in the USA.

To schedule a vaccination appointment, please visit this page.

The CDC Vaccine Price List provides HPV vaccine prices for general information.

And vaccine discounts can be found here.

Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of vaccines to the FDA or CDC.