The latest TTHealthWatch podcast from Texas Tech discussed a Swedish study in The BMJ that adds pregnancy outcomes to the known benefits of HPV vaccination. Investigators looked at more than 600,000 singleton births among women aged 16 to 35 having their first child, and about 15% had received the HPV vaccine before pregnancy. Compared with unvaccinated women, vaccinated women had about a 5% lower risk of preterm birth before 37 weeks, a 15% lower risk of birth at 28 to 31 weeks, and a 5–10% lower risk of severe small-for-gestational-age birth.
Rick Lange, president of Texas Tech Health El Paso, said the effect may work through placental health: HPV infection may disrupt trophoblast differentiation and normal placental development, a pathway linked to preterm birth. The benefit was largest when vaccination occurred before age 17. Elizabeth Tracey, director of electronic media for Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the data argue for routine HPV vaccination well before sexual activity.
The hosts differed on the implications for women who missed that early window. Tracey called for additional research on giving the vaccine before pregnancy or early in pregnancy to see if it improves birth outcomes. Lange noted that current HPV vaccination guidelines are designed primarily to prevent cervical cancer, and whether vaccination later in life also reduces preterm birth remains uncertain.