\nA majority of Americans don\u2019t know that human papillomavirus (HPV) is linked to a number of cancers, new survey data shows.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nBetween 2014 and 2020, researchers discovered that a large majority of Americans don\u2019t know that an HPV infection can cause anal, oral, and penile cancers. And though most knew that HPV could cause cervical cancer, levels of awareness dropped from 77% to 70% over the seven-year period.\n<\/p>\n \nThe findings were presented at the American Association of Cancer Research\u2019s annual meeting last week.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nExperts are concerned that the low levels of awareness could hinder adolescent HPV vaccination efforts, which are already lagging.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201c[The HPV vaccine has] been around for a long time and there\u2019s been a lot of talk about it,\u201d Eric Adjei Boakye, PhD, assistant scientist at the Department of Public Health Sciences at Henry Ford Health and lead study author, told Health<\/em>. \u201cSo no one was expecting that awareness would be decreasing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHere\u2019s what experts had to say about the link between HPV and cancer, why awareness may be trending downward, and what people should do to avoid HPV.\n<\/p>\n Getty Images \/ The Good Brigade<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/span> <\/p>\n \nHPV is a collection of over 200 viruses, which are spread through sexual activity. Infections are incredibly common\u2014most HPV infections are low-risk and people\u2019s bodies fight off the virus on their own.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nBut for others, the HPV infection may linger. If someone has a more severe strain of HPV, there is the potential for cancer.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHPV first starts off causing precancerous changes in cells, and then over time if somebody\u2019s immune system can\u2019t clear the HPV virus on their own, then eventually it can cause cancerous changes in those cells,\u201d Yasmin Lyons, DO, assistant professor of gynecologic oncology at the Mays Cancer Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, told Health.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nHPV can cause cervical, anal, penile, vaginal, rectal, vulval, and oropharyngeal (back of the throat) cancer.\u00a0The virus is responsible for about 37,300 cases of these cancers annually.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nOf these HPV-related cancers, the survey looked at just four to determine Americans\u2019 level of awareness on the topic.\n<\/p>\n \nAdjei Boakye and his team took data from the Health Information National Trends Survey in 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.<\/span> Over the years, between 2,000 and 2,350 people answered a survey question that asked them if they thought HPV caused anal, cervical, oral, and penile cancers. For each cancer type, participants could answer \u201cyes,\u201d \u201cno,\u201d or \u201cnot sure.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe researchers found that awareness of HPV and cervical cancer was by far the highest\u2014in 2014, 77.6% of survey respondents correctly said that HPV causes cervical cancer. By 2020, however, that number dropped to 70.2%.\n<\/p>\n \nAwareness levels for the three other HPV-related cancers\u2014anal, penile, and oral, or back of the tongue and throat\u2014was more concerning. In 2014, just 27.9% of survey respondents said that HPV can cause anal cancer, and that number stayed relatively stable\u201427.4% said the same in 2020.\n<\/p>\n \nThe other two cancers\u2014penile and oral\u2014had similarly low awareness, which declined further over the seven-year period. About 31% of people knew HPV could cause oral cancer when the survey started, but by 2020, that dropped to 29.5%. And for penile cancer, 30.3% were aware of its link to HPV in 2014 as compared to 28.4% in 2020.\n<\/p>\n \nAdjei Boakye noted that as awareness is dropping, cancer rates are doing the opposite. Anal and oral cavity and pharynx cancers are both increasing in incidence.<\/span><\/span> Rates of new cases of cervical cancer, in contrast, have plummeted since 1992.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cFor some reason, there\u2019s a drop in knowledge that HPV is linked to cancer,\u201d Dr. Lyons said. \u201cAwareness, again, is the biggest tool that we have because the virus is asymptomatic in a lot of cases.\u201d\n<\/p>\n HPV Symptoms All Women Should Be Aware Of<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nThough knowledge about HPV-related cancers may not seem to correlate with health outcomes, experts agree that this dip in awareness is a concern.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThe number one reason people get a vaccine is because a doctor recommended it or [told] them to,\u201d Adjei Boakye noted. \u201cBelow that, one of the other main reasons is when people know the benefits of it. So when people know the vaccine prevents cancer, they tend to get it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nIf people don\u2019t understand how dangerous HPV can be, and the consequential risks associated with it, they may not be as motivated to get themselves or their children vaccinated. The same could also go for screenings, Dr. Lyons added. For example, women may be more likely to go in for regular pap smears if they know about the link between HPV and cervical cancer, she continued. \n<\/p>\n \nThe U.S. has not yet reached its target vaccination rate for HPV, Adjei Boakye added.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \nThe HPV vaccine was first recommended in 2006, and it\u2019s been primarily marketed toward adolescents.<\/span> As of 2020, 75% of adolescents had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine and 54% of adolescents had received all recommended doses.<\/span><\/span> That\u2019s still shy of the government\u2019s original 80% goal.\n<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nIn order to increase awareness about HPV-cancers, researchers are looking into why awareness may be stagnating or declining in the first place. Unfortunately, there\u2019s no one clear explanation as to why this is the case.\n<\/p>\n \nIt could be due to the fact that more emphasis has been placed on healthcare providers educating their patients on HPV, rather than reaching out to the public itself, Adjei Boakye theorized. People may also think that since a majority of people have received the HPV vaccine, it\u2019s not something that they need to worry about, he added, or they may be vaccine-hesitant in general.\n<\/p>\n \nThe way that receiving news and information has changed since 2014 could also be playing a role, Leila Mady, MD, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told Health<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n \nGender may explain the low awareness of anal, penile, and oral cancers as compared to cervical cancer. The vaccine was first approved for women only, before being approved for men three years later.<\/span> People may think that HPV only causes cervical cancer, and is therefore only a risk for those with a cervix.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nAdjei Boakya emphasized the importance of getting information about HPV cancers to the general public. Making sure that patients have access to information about HPV and the HPV vaccine from their healthcare provider is a good place to start.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNurses actually have been shown to be the best people to talk to parents about HPV. And it doesn\u2019t even have to be talking about [it]. It could just be having pamphlets in waiting rooms,\u201d he said. \u201cIt could be adding it to people\u2019s packet that they take home with them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nIt\u2019s also important that health care providers who see a more general population\u2014such as dentists or primary care doctors\u2014are educating people about this too, said Dr. Mady.\n<\/p>\n \nAs important as awareness is, however, it has to lay the foundation for healthy action, which means getting an HPV shot if you\u2019re eligible.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThere\u2019s actually something that we can do about prevention of a cancer, which is a really big thing,\u201d Dr. Mady said. \u201cHaving the awareness that HPV is linked to this type of cancer, and that there\u2019s a vaccine that can help prevent developing that cancer, I think is the biggest reason as to why it\u2019s so important.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Things You Should Know About HPV<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New survey data found that most Americans don\u2019t know that HPV can cause anal, oral, and penile cancers. HPV is responsible for about 37,300 cases of these cancers annually. Experts recommend healthcare workers prioritize HPV education for patients, starting with individuals\u2019 eligibility for the HPV vaccine. A majority of Americans don\u2019t know that human papillomavirus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[819,410],"tags":[820,116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.health.com\/thmb\/TU7_53nV_6vy5_EJvrRuQnvQyJs=\/1500x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()\/GettyImages-1309074515-4c0ec67d9fc74891af3099fd5c00c571.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Awareness of HPV-Related Cancers Is Remaining Stagnant or Declining <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Why Is This Lack of Awareness Such a Concern?\u00a0 <\/span> <\/h2>\n
How Can We Raise Awareness? <\/span> <\/h2>\n