The HPV Vaccine Data

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection, known to be a cause of genital warts and cervical cancer. Because people are often unaware that they have acquired the infection, it is easily spread. In many jurisdictions, there now exist public health programs for the widespread administration of an HPV vaccine.

There are multiple types of HPV. The data we consider are occurrences of HPV-16, the most commonly occurring type.

These data were extracted from a review and meta-analysis of seven HPV vaccine studies (Lu et al., 2011). The particular data in the table below are from the Papilloma TRIal against Cancer In young Adults (the PATRICIA study) which took place in 2004-05. The purpose of the study was to test the efficacy of an HPV vaccine. In the PATRICIA study, several thousand young women in 14 countries were randomly assigned to receive either the HPV vaccine or an Hepitatis A vaccine. The data in the table show the numbers of subjects in the PATRICIA study, classified by which vaccine they received, and whether or not they developed a persistent HPV infection.

Numbers of subjects in the PATRICIA study with and without persistent HPV infection by whether they received the HPV or Hepatitis A vaccine

InfectionNo infectionTotal
HPV vaccine2361406163
Hepatitis A vaccine34556736018
Total3681181312181

For the complete data from the Lu et al. meta-analysis, including data from all studies, outcomes, and types of HPV, see the complete HPV vaccine data (plain text) (External link is no longer valid). The variables in these data are described in the data documentation (External link is no longer valid).

You can read more about the HPV vaccine data in the following articles: