Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics (Dec 2021)

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination across a cascade of knowledge, willingness, and uptake among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Canada’s three largest cities

  • R. Grewal,
  • S. L. Deeks,
  • T. A. Hart,
  • J. Cox,
  • A. De Pokomandy,
  • T. Grennan,
  • G. Lambert,
  • D. Moore,
  • F. Coutlée,
  • M. Gaspar,
  • C. George,
  • D. Grace,
  • J. Jollimore,
  • N. J. Lachowsky,
  • R. Nisenbaum,
  • G. Ogilvie,
  • C. Sauvageau,
  • D. H. S. Tan,
  • A. Yeung,
  • A. N. Burchell

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2021.1979379
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 12
pp. 5413 – 5425

Abstract

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Background Some Canadian jurisdictions offer publicly funded HPV vaccine to gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) aged ≤26 years. We characterized factors associated with being in different stages of HPV vaccination. Methods Engage is a sexual health study of GBM in the three largest Canadian cities recruited via respondent driven sampling (RDS). We categorized participants as: (1) unaware of HPV vaccine, (2) undecided/unwilling to get vaccinated, (3) willing to get vaccinated, (4) vaccinated with one or more doses. Our RDS-II weighted analyses used multinomial logistic regression to identify factors associated with being in earlier stages of the cascade compared to Stage 4. Results Across the cities, 26–40%, 7–14%, 33–39%, and 13–28% were in Stages 1 to 4, respectively. Compared to Stage 4, being in earlier stages of the cascade was associated with bisexual-identification (Stage 1: adjusted odds ratio[aOR] = 2.84, 95% confidence interval[CI] = 1.06–7.62; Stage 2: aOR = 3.09, 95%CI = 1.19–8.05), having immigrated to Canada (Stage 1: aOR = 1.79, 95%CI 1.07–2.99), preference to keep same-sex romantic relationships private (Stage 1: aOR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.05–1.48; Stage 2: aOR = 1.24, 95%CI = 1.05–1.46), not receiving sexual health information (Stage 1: aOR = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.13–0.71; Stage 2: aOR = 0.27, 95%CI = 0.12–0.64), not accessing a health-care provider (Stage 2: aOR = 0.36, 95%CI = 0.15–0.83), and no past hepatitis A/B vaccination (Stage 1: aOR = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.09–0.30; Stage 2: aOR = 0.18, 95%CI = 0.09–0.35; Stage 3: aOR = 0.38, 95%CI = 0.21–0.61). Discussion Interventions are needed to reduce social and financial barriers, increase sexual health knowledge, and improve GBM-competent health-care access to increase vaccine uptake among GBM.

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