HPV vaccination and screening among women born 1975-1996

The project aims to compare women who have taken the HPV vaccine with unvaccinated women in terms of attendance and results of cervical cancer screening

Last updated: 6/23/2023

Purpose

The study includes women who were not offered routine vaccination against HPV in the Childhood Immunisation Programme, but who have had the opportunity to purchase the vaccine themselves or have been offered a vaccination.

The project aims to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated women in these birth cohorts with regard to attendance and screening results.

Data basis

This is a registry-based, non-invasive study. This means that all information used in the study has already been collected, and the study will therefore not require active participation from those included in the study's data material.

The Cancer Registry of Norway defines the study cohort, which in this case is Norwegian women born in the period 1975 - 1996. The Cancer Registry of Norway collects information about any dates and results from sample of cells taken from the women.

From the Norwegian Prescription Database and SYSVAK, any data on when the HPV vaccine was discharged/taken are obtained. The statistical agency of Norway collects data on socioeconomic status. Data from all these registries are linked. Collecting and linking data is possible using the social security number.

Ethical assessment and legal approval for the execution of the project have been granted by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics, and the Norwegian Data Protection Authority. Each registry also makes thorough assessments to take care of the privacy in the data set provided for analysis.

Before the final data set is handed over to the researchers, the social security number will be removed. It will not be possible to recognise individuals in publications from the project.

Status

All data in the project were obtained from the registers. Analysis and publication are ongoing.