Swedish study: HPV vaccination linked to fewer preterm births
Women vaccinated against human papillomavirus gave birth prematurely less often, according to a study published in the BMJ. The data show an association, not proof.
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Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) may have a further benefit beyond protecting against cervical cancer. As Deutsches Ärzteblatt reported on 9 October, vaccinated women had fewer preterm births in later pregnancies in a population-based case-control study from Sweden. The study, led by Zhongsong Zhang of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, was published in the BMJ. Sweden launched its HPV vaccination programme in 2007; by the end of 2023, according to the report, 14.8 percent of all pregnant women had previously been vaccinated with a quadrivalent HPV vaccine.
Case-control studies are observational: they can show a statistical association but cannot on their own prove that the vaccine is the cause of the lower risk. The exact size of the effect is not given in the freely accessible part of the report.
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