May 23 (Reuters) - Vaccination of boys and men against the human papillomavirus (HPV) reduces their risk of head and neck cancers and other malignancies, a new analysis shows, adding to the vaccine's proven benefit in protecting women from cervical cancer.
The study of more than 3.4 million people is one of the first long-term analyses of the vaccine's real-world effect on preventing HPV-related cancers of the head and neck, anal areas, penis, vulva, vagina and cervix, researchers said.
Previous studies of the vaccine have focused mainly on cervical cancer. In one large 2020 study from Sweden, for example, cervical cancer rates were 47 per 100,000 in vaccinated women and 94 per 100,000 in unvaccinated women.
The new study, scheduled for presentation at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, included more than 1.7 million volunteers who were vaccinated against HPV since 2010, at some point between ages 9 and 39, and roughly equal numbers of similar unvaccinated volunteers. About 44% were male.
