Recently an editorial article “Linkage of individual-patient data confirms protection of prophylactic human papillomavirus vaccination against invasive cervical cancer,” was published in the “JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute”. It has provided an overview of the excellent effectiveness of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in preventing invasive cervical cancer, particularly when administered to young teenagers (1-4). The editorial was written by prof. dr. Marc Arbyn and colleagues, addressing the urgent need for the linkage of individual patient data (IPD) for improving primary and secondary cervical cancer prevention interventions in practice, as well as for answering of scientific questions that cannot be addressed through trials. Authors of this invited editorial emphasized: “This may provide the granularity to better determine crucial aspects such as the optimal catchup maximum age, vaccine scheduling, and risk-based strategies adjusted to HPV vaccination status.”
This challenge is being recognized by the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and is being addressed through several European projects such as the Joint Action PERCH (PartnERship to Contrast HPV, grant 101075314) and RISCC (Risk-based Screening for Cervical Cancer, Grant 847845). Sweden, a country participating in PERCH, along with Denmark, England, and Scotland, already have IPD registries that link vaccination data with screening and cancer registry records. Efforts are underway to extend these operations beyond national borders, with proposals for the international pooling of IPD vaccination data.
Read the full article here: https://academic.oup.com/jnci/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jnci/djae042/7631792
References:
- Palmer TJ, Kavanagh K, Cuschieri K, et al. Invasive cervical cancer incidence following bivalent HPV vaccination—a population-based observational study of age at immunisation, dose, and deprivation. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2024. doi:10.1093/jnci/djad263
- Lei J, Ploner A, Elfstrom KM, et al. HPV vaccination and the risk of invasive cervical cancer. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(14):1340-1348.
- Kjaer SK, Dehlendorff C, Belmonte F, Baandrup L. Real-world effectiveness of human papillomavirus vaccination against cervical cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2021;113(10):1329-1335.
- Falcaro M, Castanon A, Ndlela B, et al. The effects of the national HPV vaccination programme in England, UK, on cervical cancer and grade 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia incidence: a register-based observational study. Lancet. 2021;398(10316):2084-2092.,
