TUESDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- Human papillomavirus (HPV) standard schedule vaccine or alternative dosing schedules (zero, three, and nine months and zero, six, and 12 months) are well tolerated with comparable immunogenicity in adolescent girls, according to a study published April 13 in an infectious disease and immunology themed issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Kathleen M. Neuzil, M.D., M.P.H., from the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health in Seattle, and colleagues determined the immunogenicity and reactogenicity of standard and alternative dosing schedules of quadrivalent HPV vaccine in 809 adolescent girls, aged 11 to 13 years. Serum anti-HPV geometric mean titers (GMT) for each dosing schedule were measured one month after the last dose. The primary outcome of noninferiority was achieved if the lower level of the confidence interval of the GMT ratio for HPV-16 to HPV-18 was more than 0.5.
The investigators found the GMTs for the standard schedule groups (vaccination at zero, two, and six months) was 5808.0 for HPV-16 and 1729.9 for HPV-18. For vaccination at zero, three, and nine months, HPV-16 was 5368.5 and HPV-18 was 1502.3. For vaccination at zero, six, and 12 months, HPV-16 was 5716.4 and HPV-18 was 1581.5. For vaccination at zero, 12 and 24 months, the HPV-16 was 3692.5 and HPV-18 was 1335.7. Noninferiority criteria were met in the dosing schedules of zero, three, and nine months and zero, six, and 12 months. The most common adverse advent was pain at the injection site.
"The quadrivalent HPV vaccine administered on standard and alternative schedules was
highly immunogenic in adolescent girls," the authors write.
Study supplies were provided by Merck & Co. Inc.
Abstract
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