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Ann Ist Super Sanit 2013 | Vol. 49, No. 3: 286-291

O riginal

articles and reviews

DOI 10.4415/ANN_13_03_09

HPV vaccination acceptability

in young boys
Giancarlo Tisi, Federica Salinaro, Pietro Apostoli, Raffaella Bassani, Anna Bellicini,
Lavinia Groppi, Paolo Donarini and Sergio Pecorelli
Universit degli Studi di Brescia, Brescia, Italy

Abstract
Purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the comprehension and acceptance of
HPV vaccination in parents of adolescent boys aged 11 to 15 years.
Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted by means of questionnaires sent directly to the homes of all families with young males aged between 11 and 15, residents
of three municipalities of the Province of Brescia, Italy. The documentation also contained an informative leaflet summarizing the HPV-related disease characteristics, the
burden of disease and the available strategies for prevention and treatment, illustrating
the rationale of vaccination and describing the project and its phases. The questionnaire
included questions on demographic data, acceptance and motivations for HPV vaccination. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. At the end of the study,
parents who received the questionnaires were also offered the possibility of vaccinating
their male sons for free.
Results. From a total of 1072 questionnaires sent, 161 where returned from the three
selected municipalities (average response rate 15%); 97% of adolescent males involved
in the study were Italian and 91% Catholic; 97% of parents declared themselves to be
willing to vaccinate their sons: the principal motivation given (92%) was prevention of the
disease, cancerous or not, related to viral infection. Among the respondents not willing
to vaccinate their sons, the motivation was lack of information about the vaccine and the
disease. At the end of the study, around 71 boys were vaccinated.
Discussion. To our knowledge, this is the first survey in Italy exclusively conducted on
parents of adolescent males about the acceptability and feasibility of vaccination against
HPV: a very high percentage of respondents was favorable to accept the vaccination for
their sons, the main motivation being the fact that parents considered protecting their
sons from HPV-related diseases highly important. Of the 161 boys targeted by the questionnaire, 71 decided to receive the 3 doses of HPV vaccination (44%). Data suggests
that HPV vaccination is acceptable to families for their male sons and that information
is important in the decision-making process.

INTRODUCTION
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the cause of the
most common sexually transmitted infection in the
world. Males, as well as females, have an important
role in the transmission of HPV. HPV DNA can be
detected in the cervical tissue in up to 45% of women 20-24 years of age [1-5]. In men, the prevalence
ranges from 20 to 65% and is high at all ages [6, 7-10]
and are related to oral cancers in around 25-35% of
cases, anal cancer in 90% of cases, and penile cancer
in 40% of cases [9]. In a recent publication it has
been estimated that in Europe more than 340 000
cases/year of HPV vaccine-preventable diseases affect only women. A similar number is also evidenced
in men (including more than 320 000 cases of genital
warts, 12 000 cases of head and neck cancer, more

Key words
HPV vaccine
young male
cervical cancer
vaccine acceptability
public health system
HPV vaccination
STI

than 1600 cases of anal cancer and around 1000 cases of the penile cancer [8, 9, 11, 12].
In the USA in October 2011, following the approval of the quadrivalent vaccine use also on males, the
American Centers for Diseases Prevention and Control
(CDC) recommended that young boys as well as girls
should get immunised against HPV [13]. The same
was recommended in Canada by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) [14] and in
Australia [15] by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory
Committee (PBAC), even if Australia had high vaccine
coverage in females and herd immunity was expected
and demonstrated. Surveys conducted with different
methodologies on the general male population at risk or
over 18 years have shown varying degrees of knowledge
and acceptability of HPV vaccination [16-25]. In Italy,

Address for correspondence: Giancarlo Tisi, Spedali Civili di Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25123 Brescia, Italy. E-mail: [email protected].

METHODS
The Ethics Committee of the Hospital of Brescia approved the survey on January 11, 2011 as a no-profit,
no-sponsorized study.
A questionnaire was prepared by the authors of the
study, and was printed by INFORMA-CRO srl. A copy
of this questionnaire, both in Italian and in English, can
be sent on request contacting the corresponding author
at: [email protected].
From March 2011 to September 2011 information
leaflets on HPV burden of disease and questionnaires
to evaluate vaccine acceptability were sent to all families with young males aged between 11 and 15, residents of three municipalities of the Province of Brescia,
Italy (Montichiari, Orzinuovi and Roncadelle).
The list of families with male adolescents was obtained from the registry lists of Brescia residents, provided by the previously selected municipalities. Families were also made aware that their local pediatricians
and general practitioners were informed that the survey
was taking place. A free phone line was also activated,
operated by trained physicians coordinated by the department of gynecology and obstetrics, in case further
information on HPV-related diseases was required by
the families receiving the questionnaire. Taking into
consideration that some families already had a basic
acquired knowledge of HPV diseases and of the vaccination offered to girls by the National Health System
yet none or little on the possibility of also vaccinating
males, the educational content was centered on males
and their burden of disease. The information leaflet was
divided into different sections summarizing the disease
characteristics, the burden of disease and the available
strategies for prevention and treatment, illustrating the
rationale of vaccination, the project and its phases and
listing in detail what was being asked to the families
about the project. All of this was supported by detailed
information and didactic diagrams.
The questionnaire contained questions on demographics data (place of birth, municipality of residence, education, profession and age of the parents),
willingness to accept or not the proposed vaccination
and provided several options for returning the finished
questionnaire: either to the hospital help desk, by fax,
through a dedicated internet based website or by phone
calling the toll-free number, which was also activated
to offer answers to all doubts about the disease or the
project. Each questionnaire was anonymous, although
a unique numeric code was necessary in order to identify the studys population cohort that answered the
questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using
descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation for continuous variables and absolute and percentage distributions for discrete variables).
In January 2011, the quadrivalent anti HPV vaccine
summary product characteristic (SPC) already included
vaccine immunogenicity data on children and adolescents irrespective of the sex (Il vaccino produce inoltre
la formazione di anticorpi in bambini ed adolescenti di
eta compresa tra 9 e 15 anni) this evidence of immunogenicity also in males younger than 14 years of age
permitted that parents who received the questionnaires

O riginal

in a survey conducted among high school students and

their parents, both mothers and fathers (68% and 65%
respectively) were willing to vaccinate their children.
In order to propose new vaccination strategies and
ensure high acceptability and coverage, research is essential in terms of population needs and acceptability in
order to better understand and implement vaccination
strategies accordingly. Current research about the attitudes and acceptance of an HPV vaccine has largely
focused on females [26-28]. As regards females, studies
also correlate awareness with acceptability and demonstrate that awareness campaigns of any kind consistently raised acceptability to vaccinate [29]. Considerably less is known about acceptance of HPV vaccine for
males although every day new data is being produced
worldwide. A recent study review of available published
literature on acceptability among parents, health care
providers and young males concluded that acceptability median was around 74%. It also stressed the small
number of studies available on males and the urgent
need for new studies that incorporate more recent data
on HPV-related diseases and recent vaccine efficacy in
order to correctly evaluate acceptability [30]. Another
study found that acceptability improved when parents
received information about the diseases, advantages
and importance of vaccination [31]. When information
was given to males between 18-26 years of age, results
showed that irrespective of the HPV message (whether
it was centred on genital warts, female HPV diseases or
head and neck HPV cancers) intent to be vaccinated increased [32]. In the USA parents seem to want to vaccinate their male sons. Recently a study showed that from
a sample of parents, 62% answered the questionnaires
about intention to vaccinate, from which 90% declared
they wanted to vaccinate their sons [33]. Recently in
England there has been a change in the use of HPV
vaccine; now they use the quadrivalent vaccine, which is
approved for use in males and females, primarily to offer also protection against genital warts. This has raised
several questions about male vaccination possibility in
England and from a recent survey conducted among
boys between 16-18 years old attending school, showed
that HPV vaccine is also accepted among this population and that information about disease implications is
vital to increase acceptance [34].
In Italy data about HPV vaccination acceptability in
females is scarce and little is known about males. One
study, centred on females aged 18 to 26 years to evaluate acceptability feasibility in Italy, showed that where
vaccination was offered for free to this age range at
least 56% of the population interviewed received one
vaccine shot when offered actively by the local health
system [35]. Previous Italian research data about vaccination offer to both genders conducted by school based
questionnaire about HPV knowledge and vaccine acceptability concluded that Italian students and parents
tend to underestimate the likelihood of HPV infection
and the importance of the burden of HPV-related diseases [36]. The purpose of this study was to evaluate
the understanding and acceptance of HPV vaccination
on parents of adolescent boys aged 11 to 15 years by
means of questionnaires sent directly to their homes.

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HPV vaccination acceptability in young boys

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articles and reviews

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Giancarlo Tisi, Federica Salinaro, Pietro Apostoli et al.

were also offered the possibility of vaccinating their

male sons for free with the quadrivalent HPV vaccine
(types 6, 11, 16, 18). In June 23 2011, Gardasil was
authorized for males up to 26 years of age and in September 2011, following the survey, we started to vaccinate all responders willing to receive the vaccine.
RESULTS
A total of 161 completed questionnaires were returned, from a total of 1072 questionnaires sent. The
average response rate, regardless of municipality of
residence, was 15%: 15.5% specific to the Montichiari
municipality (87/562), 12.7% for Orzinuovi municipality (41/322) and 17.5% for Roncadelle municipality
(33/188).
Table 1 shows the distribution of parents in relation to
selected socio-demographic characteristics. The questionnaire was completed mainly by mothers, around
85%. The fathers resulted to be in general older than
the mothers, respectively, 54% of fathers and 32% of
mothers reported an age 45 years. 57% of the mothers
and 52% of the fathers had a high school diploma and
the majority of the mothers declared themselves to be
housewives (38%) while the majority of fathers (33%)
were workers.
Table 2 shows the characteristics of the adolescent
males between 11 and 15 years of age involved in the

study: 96% were Italian and 91% Catholic. The average

age was 13 years of age, 67% attended middle school.
The majority, 60%, had only one other sibling, 22% were
an only child, the remaining 20% had more than one
brother or sister. From the whole population, 43% declared themselves to have at least one sister already vaccinated against HPV.
A big proportion of parents, 97%, declared themselves to be willing to vaccinate their sons if the vaccine
was proposed or available to them for free: the principal given motivation was prevention of any disease,
this included pre-cancerous lesions, cancer or benign
lesions such as genital warts, related to HPV infection
(92%), followed by feeling that it was right to offer the
vaccine equally to both genders (5%). Only 6 families,
(3%) rejected the proposed vaccine giving as motivation
that there is not enough information available about the
vaccine. In 80% of cases the only available information
they had the chance to come upon, in order to understand HPV infection and impact, was the informational
leaflet attached to the questionnaire itself.
At the end of the study (October 31, 2011), all subjects that actively contacted our call center were vaccinated. We were not allowed to directly invite any subject
because the questionnaires returned were anonymous.
Around 71 boys were vaccinated (44% of all answered
questionnaires).

Table 1
Distribution of parents by gender, age and some socio-demographic characteristics
Mother

Father

< 40

35

21.7

5.6

40-44

59

36.7

50

31.1

45-49

40

24.8

56

34.8

50

12

7.5

31

19.2

Missing

15

9.3

15

9.3

Mean age

42.9 4.9

Age (years)

45.9 5.1

Education
Elementary

1.2

2.5

Middle school

68

37.9

71

44.1

Higher school

77

12.4

68

42.2

University

14

24.8

16

9.9

Missing

1.3

Unemployed

1.2

1.9

Housewife

61

37.9

Worker

20

12.4

53

32.9

Employee

40

24.8

30

18.6

Manager

1.9

3.1

Self employed

29

18.0

Other

29

18.0

34

21.1

Missing

3.7

4.4

Who answered the questionnaire

129

80.1

32

19.9

Occupation

DISCUSSION
Extending vaccination to boys will not only protect
males but it will also reduce rates of HPV related cases
among females (via herd immunity). In some countries,
local health authorities have already taken into consideration the previous unknown HPV burden in males
and have started to offer vaccination campaigns also
for males. The United States of America, Australia and
Canada are among the first countries to recommend
and offer routine vaccination in boys too [13-15].
This is the first survey in Italy exclusively conducted
on parents of adolescent males about the acceptability
and feasibility of vaccination against HPV infection: it
was possible to propose an active offer of vaccination,
even if only through a written communication, involving families of the three municipalities. A total response
rate of 15%, for a questionnaire that was sent by traditional mail can be considered a good rate [22], also
considering that no other active intervention was programmed to remind families to complete the questionnaire, such as telephone calls or an eventual reminder
letter, nor any type of information about the possibility
of vaccination offer of males; in this sense studies have
observed that additional actions exponentially increase
the answer rates of a survey [37]. According to the observational target of the study, returned questionnaires
were anonymous, so a second call was not performed to
non responders.
The study was designed by University of Brescia according to Spedali Civili of Brescia Ethic Committee.
The source of information from public health Institutions probably determined a very high (97%) proportion
of respondents willing to vaccinate their male sons. The
main motivation being the fact that they considered the
disease of high importance also for males having the
right to receive the vaccine. It should be noted that, at
present, the medical community and public opinion in
Italy consider HPV vaccination to be a vaccine needed
and indicated exclusively to females. The results also
showed that among respondents not willing to vaccinate their sons, the motivation was lack of information
about the vaccine and the disease. We have also to affirm that the high proportion of parents in favour of
vaccination may be a bias due to the high percentage of
ones having a daughter already vaccined: probably only
already sensibilized people participated the survey. On
these bases, we suppose that a more invasive campaign,
than a simple informative leaflet on the disease risks,
might obtain a better response rate.
The results obtained emphasize some aspects, which
are at the base of the external limits found in order to
implement a working vaccination offer. Due to the fact
that the information campaign was necessarily and deliberately non-invasive (no further actions were taken to
increase response rates), it was not possible to collect
socio-demographic information on the non respondents. Also, the fact that the results relate to a small,

selected area of Italy makes it difficult to extend the

results to the entire country. Moreover, the high rate
of acceptance of vaccination among respondents creates a bias: usually families that find the time to answer
the questionnaire have already a predisposition to the
importance of the vaccine, showing interest about the
disease predisposes them to answer positively to a possible offer. In the future greater efforts are needed to
inform the population about the disease burden and
importance of vaccination campaigns. Overall acceptability in males seems to be quite high in this particular
area of Italy.
Following the survey, we also measured feasibility by
offering the vaccine free of charge to the families that
declared to be willing to vaccinate their male sons. Out
of 161 boys potentially eligible for the HPV vaccination
and targeted through the questionnaire, 71 have deTable 2
Distribution of adolescents by age and some socio-demographic characteristics
Adolescents
N

< 12

21

13.0

12-13

77

47.8

14-15

63

39.2

Age (years)

Missing
Age median ds

13.1 1.3

Level of study
School

108

67.1

High School

50

31.3

Missing

1.8

36

22.4

97

60.2

20

12.4

5.0

Missing

1.9

Mean number of brothers/sisters ds

1.1 1.1

Number of brothers or sisters

N of vaccinated brothers/sisters
0

55

34.2

69

42.9

0.6

Missing

36

22.3

Italian

147

95.7

Other

4.3

Catholic

147

91.3

Islamic

3.7

Other

1.3

Missing

3.7

Nationality

Religion

O riginal

All received 3 dose vaccination schedules. Doses

of the vaccine where provided by the Regional Public
Health Office of Lombardy who also authorized this
vaccination program on May 23, 2011.

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Giancarlo Tisi, Federica Salinaro, Pietro Apostoli et al.

cided to receive the 3 doses of HPV vaccination (44%).

The relatively low percentage of vaccinated subjects,
which also declared themselves in favour of vaccination,
could be explained as follows:
1) a direct call was not performed: all the questionnaires
returned were anonymous so we were not able to directly call the subjects. We offered the vaccinations to
all the subjects that actively have called our Center
(the procedure was clearly explained in the information given with the questionnaires);
2) the vaccination offer were performed when the collection of all questionaires was concluded, so we
started the vaccinations about 4-6 motnhs after the
subjects had responded. Without the possibility to
remember them about this offer, it was easy to forget
it after 4-6 months. In reality, a large number of subjects called our Center after the closure of the Study
asking to be vaccinated, unluckily they self declared
to have not received the letter and that they found
out from classmates that were vaccinated, so we were
not able to offer them the vaccination for free.
We suppose that a better percentage of response
could have been improved by an active invitation with a
direct call to subjects parents.
Throughout the vaccinated population, no adverse
effects were reported and all of them completed the 3
dose schedule. This proves acceptability from parents
and sons who demonstrated high interest in getting vaccinated after an invitation letter and in turn makes us
think that an active and free offer also to males, which
would make HPV vaccination a non-gender based vaccination, could be quite feasible taking into considera-

tion the good response obtained. Most likely, having a

universal vaccination would also boost female coverage.
Request for vaccination did not only come from the informed families, but after the study ended, several requests from other families of the three municipalities
were received to vaccinate their sons. The good feedback
of all participating subjects and the absence of any adverse or unexpectedevent could have increased the interest of parents of classmates and friends of vaccinated
young males. This change of mind in parents that did not
respond to our initial vaccination purpose suggests that
an active call program could obtain good acceptance.
Given the importance shown by the informative material sent to the families about the disease epidemiology and importance of vaccination, it seems necessary to start promoting educational interventions on
the population more actively, in order to increase and
improve knowledge about the disease and the benefits
that a universal anti-HPV vaccination can produce.
Acknowledgements
The study was conducted with the sponsorship and
support of the University of Brescia and with funding made available by private entities (Sanofi Pasteur
MSD) and the Lombardy Region (AO Civil Hospital
of Brescia).
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Received on 6 February 2013.
Accepted on 19 June 2013.

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