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The estimated value of the increased numbers of incidence and death.
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In Japan, government subsidies for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of girls aged 13–16 commenced in 2010. By early 2013, vaccination had become a widely accepted national immunization program. However, in June of 2013, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW), the government’s lead agency, suspended its recommendation for vaccinatio...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... on several assumptions, we have calculated the potential for future cervical cancer incidence and mortality numbers that will be increased as a result of the policy decision to continue not recommending HPV vaccination [38] (Figure 1). The increased numbers of future incidences of cervical cancer, in each birth year, compared to those of females born in 1999, most of whom received HPV vaccination with public subsidies before the suspension of the recommendation, were estimated as follows: 2000: 3651 [39]. ...
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Purpose:
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is safe and effective for preventing HPV-related diseases. However, HPV vaccination rates in Japan are low because the "Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare" had stopped recommending vaccination. We assessed healthcare workers' (HCWs) current recommendations regarding the HPV vaccine and how the pr...
Citations
... In 2020, 604,127 and 12,785 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and approximately 341,831 and 4,213 women died from the disease worldwide and in Japan, respectively [1]. One cause of the increase in the prevalence of cervical cancer in Japan is the long-term stagnation of the cervical cancer screening consultation rate in this country [2]. Therefore, improving the screening consultation rate is an urgent public health issue concerning the reduction of cervical cancer incidence. ...
... Moreover, our results suggest the importance of recommendations on follow-up testing for HPV-positive individuals. In Japan, the rate of cervical cancer screening is low and the active recommendation for vaccination against cervical cancer has been suspended for some time [2]. Therefore, improving the rate of cervical cancer screening is a critically important public health issue. ...
Background
One cause of the increase in cervical cancer rates in Japan is the long-term stagnation in the cervical cancer screening consultation rate. Therefore, improving the screening consultation rate is of urgent concern to reduce cervical cancer incidence. Self-collected human papilloma virus (HPV) tests have been successfully adopted in several countries, such as the Netherlands and Australia, as a measure of individuals who have not undergone cervical cancer screening in national programs. This study aimed to verify whether self-collected HPV tests presented an effective countermeasure for individuals who had not undergone the recommended cervical cancer screenings.
Methods
This study was conducted from December 2020 to September 2022 in Muroran City, Japan. The primary evaluated endpoint was the percentage of citizens who underwent cervical cancer screening at a hospital with positive self-collected HPV test results. The secondary endpoint was the percentage of included participants who were diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) or higher among those who visited a hospital and underwent cervical cancer screening.
Results
The included study participants were 7,653 individuals aged 20–50 years with no record of previous cervical cancer examination in the past 5 years. We mailed these participants information on self-administered HPV tests as an alternative screening procedure and sent the kit to 1,674 women who requested the test. Among them, 953 returned the kit. Among the 89 HPV-positive individuals (positive rate, 9.3%), 71 (79.8%) visited the designated hospital for an examination. A closer examination revealed that 13 women (18.3% of hospital visits) had a CIN finding of CIN2 or higher, among whom one each had cervical cancer and vulvar cancer, eight presented with CIN3, and three presented with CIN2; two cases of invasive gynecologic cancer were also identified.
Conclusions
We conclude that the self-collected HPV tests showed a certain efficacy as a measure of individuals who had not undergone the recommended cervical cancer screening. We devised ways to have the unexamined patients undergo HPV testing and ensure that HPV-positive individuals visited the hospital. Despite a few limitations, our findings suggest the effectiveness of this public health intervention.
... HPV vaccine withdrawal resulted in greater anti-vaccine sentiment in Japan, which also reverberated globally [17,18]. While extensive studies over the past decade within Japan and elsewhere have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of HPV vaccination [17], these concerns continue to drive parental vaccine hesitancy [1,[19][20][21][22]. ...
... HPV vaccine withdrawal resulted in greater anti-vaccine sentiment in Japan, which also reverberated globally [17,18]. While extensive studies over the past decade within Japan and elsewhere have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of HPV vaccination [17], these concerns continue to drive parental vaccine hesitancy [1,[19][20][21][22]. Although the MHLW has resumed proactive recommendation, negative perception of the HPV vaccine persists among mothers, and the vaccine gap for HPV has emerged as a major public health problem in Japan [17]. ...
... While extensive studies over the past decade within Japan and elsewhere have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of HPV vaccination [17], these concerns continue to drive parental vaccine hesitancy [1,[19][20][21][22]. Although the MHLW has resumed proactive recommendation, negative perception of the HPV vaccine persists among mothers, and the vaccine gap for HPV has emerged as a major public health problem in Japan [17]. This scoping review explores parental hesitancy for HPV vaccination in Japan and discusses potential areas of interest to address vaccine hesitancy. ...
Globally, Japan has the lowest rate of vaccine confidence. The persistent parental vaccine hesitancy has been attributed to safety and efficacy concerns and is primarily driven by the negative experience with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. This literature review aimed to identify factors associated with HPV vaccine uptake and potential strategies to reduce vaccine hesitancy among Japanese parents. Articles published in English or Japanese between January 1998 and October 2022 that examined Japanese parental factors for HPV vaccine uptake were identified from PubMed, Web of Science, and Ichushi-Web. In total, 17 articles met the inclusion criteria. Four key themes which affected HPV vaccine hesitancy and acceptance were identified: perceptions of risk and benefits, trust and recommendation, information and knowledge, and sociodemographic characteristics. While governmental and healthcare provider recommendations are important factors, efforts to improve parental confidence in the HPV vaccine are required. Future interventions to counteract HPV vaccine hesitancy should actively disseminate information on vaccine safety and effectiveness, along with information on the severity and susceptibility of HPV infection.
... In 2020, an estimated 604,127 and 12,785 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and approximately 341,831 and 4213 women died from the disease worldwide and in Japan respectively [1]. One cause of the increase in the prevalence of cervical cancer in Japan is the long-term stagnation of the cervical cancer screening consultation rate in this country [2]. Improving the screening consultation rate is therefore an urgent public health issue in regard to the reduction of cervical cancer incidence. ...
... In Japan, the rate of cervical cancer screening is low and the active recommendation for vaccination against cervical cancer has been suspended for some time [2]. Therefore, improving the rate of cervical cancer screening is a critically important public health issue. ...
Background
One cause of the increase in cervical cancer rates in Japan is the long-term stagnation in the cervical cancer screening consultation rate. Improving the screening consultation rate is therefore of urgent concern to reduce cervical cancer incidence. Self-collected human papilloma virus (HPV) tests have been successfully adopted in several countries, such as Netherlands and Australia, as a measure of individuals who have not undergone cervical cancer screening in national programs. This study aimed to verify whether self-collected HPV tests presented an effective countermeasure for individuals who had not undergone the recommended cervical cancer screenings.
Methods
This study was conducted from December 2020 to September 2022 in Muroran City, Japan. The primary evaluated endpoints included the percentage of citizens with positive self-collected HPV test results and individuals who underwent cervical cancer screening at a hospital. The secondary endpoints were the percentage of included participants who had undergone any cervical cancer screening and the diagnostic rates.
Results
The included study participants were 7,653 individuals aged 20–50 years with no record of having undergone a cervical cancer examination in the past 5 years. We mailed these participants information on self-administered HPV tests as an alternative screening procedure and sent the kit to 1,674 women who requested the test, among whom 953 returned the kit. Among the 89 HPV-positive individuals (positive rate, 9.3%), 71 (79.8%) visited the designated hospital for an examination. A closer examination revealed that 13 women (18.3% of hospital visits) had a cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) finding of CIN2 or higher, among whom one each had cervical cancer and vulvar cancer, eight presented with CIN3, and three presented with CIN2; two cases of invasive gynecologic cancer were also identified.
Conclusions
We conclude that the self-collected HPV tests showed a certain efficacy as a measure of individuals who had not undergone the recommended cervical cancer screening. We devised ways to have the unexamined patients undergo HPV testing and ensure that HPV-positive individuals visited the hospital. Despite a few limitations, our findings suggest the effectiveness of this public health intervention.
... In Japan, public subsidies started for HPV vaccinations of females 13-16 in the fiscal year (FY) 2010. In 2013, the national program was stated for the girls aged 12-16 [1]. However, media reports of 'diverse symptoms' occurring after vaccination began circulating. ...
In 2013, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan announced a suspension of the governmental recommendation for routine HPV vaccinations. In 2020, MHLW started individual notifications of HPV vaccine to the targeted girls. In April 2022, the governmental recommendation was restarted, and catch-up vaccinations started. We evaluated the benefits and limitations of the MHLW’s new vaccination strategies by estimating the lifetime risk for cervical cancer for each birth FY under different scenarios to suggest a measure for the vaccine suspension generation. It was revealed that catch-up immunization coverage among the unvaccinated must reach as high as 90% in FY2022, when the program begins, in order to reduce the risk of the females already over the targeted ages to the same level or lower than that of women born in FY1994-1999 who had high HPV vaccination rates. For women whose vaccination coverage waned because of their birth FYs, strong recommendations for cervical cancer screening should be implemented.
... Khan et al. reported that a Japanese COVID-19 vaccination awareness survey showed almost similar results [24]. While surveys in several other countries have reported that women are less hesitant or less likely to refuse to be vaccinated than men [25], Japan has historically reported more mothers who are hesitant to vaccinate their children [26,27], and other studies have found women to be more hesitant than men [20,28]. In addition, the highest annual income group (more than JPY 12 million) seemed to have a higher percentage of vaccine hesitancy/refusal than the others, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. ...
Despite considerable interest in the Japanese population in receiving the vaccine for COVID-19 when it first became available, a sizable percentage of people remain unwilling or hesitant to be vaccinated. Concerns among both the vaccinated and the unwilling center on the vaccine's efficacy and its safety. Thus, this study aimed to identify whether the willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccination is related to the sources of information people use to learn about the vaccine. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 800 participants registered in an Internet research panel across Japan who completed a questionnaire on their sources of information about the vaccine, demographics, and vaccination status. Vaccine willingness/hesitancy and refusal were set as dependent variables in the logistic regression analysis, with sources of vaccine information and other socio-demographic variables set as independent variables. The results of the analysis found that the information sources significantly associated with willingness to vaccinate were TV (AOR 2.44 vs. vaccine refusal/hesitation), summary websites of COVID-19 by non-experts (AOR 0.21, vs. vaccine refusal/hesitation), Internet video sites (AOR 0.33, vs. vaccine refusal/hesitation), and the personal websites of doctors (AOR 0.16, vs. vaccine refusal/hesitation). Given the likelihood of misinformation in non-traditional sources of information, it is important that health communications be accurate and persuasive.
... It is estimated that complete coverage with HPV vaccines in the female population may reduce cervical cancer incidence by up to 90% worldwide [3]. The HPV vaccine was developed to block the route of HPV infection and is an excellent vaccine characterized by the following: (1) the induction of high-titer HPV antibodies in more than 99% of vaccinated persons aged 10-55 years, with titers several to ten times higher than natural antibodies, the absence of non-responders, and the development of HPV antibodies in the absence of non-responders [4,5], and (2) in several countries, large-scale clinical trials in [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] year olds have shown that infection with the vaccine subtypes (subtype 16 or 18 or 6, 11, 16, 2 of 11 or 18) and the resulting development of moderate cervical dysplasia or other conditions, including cervical cancer, is almost 100% prevented if the patient is uninfected at the time of receiving the vaccine [6]. However, due to reports of adverse reactions such as chronic pain and motor dysfunction after vaccination, the government stopped actively recommending it on 14 June 2013 [7]. ...
... In Japan, public subsidies for HPV vaccination began in 2010, and it became a routine vaccination based on the Immunization Law in April 2013 [18]. However, in June 2013, the Japanese government stopped recommending temporary prophylactic vaccination after symptoms, including chronic pain and motor dysfunction, after HPV vaccination were reported in young women and brought to light by the Japanese media [19,20]. The reason for this might have been that some HPV vaccine recipients suffered from symptoms that could not be ruled out as being related to the vaccination; moreover, there were reports suggesting a causal relationship between the HPV vaccine and severe symptoms such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS) [21]. ...
The incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer are rising among young women in Japan. In November 2021, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare reinstated the active recommendation for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which was discontinued in June 2013 due to reports of adverse reactions, including chronic pain and motor dysfunction, following vaccination. However, vaccine hesitancy among the younger generation remains, and it is essential to identify the barriers in vaccination uptake. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a randomized study using different methods of providing educational contents to improve health literacy regarding cervical cancer and HPV vaccination among female students in Japan. Here, we present the results of our preliminary report and discuss current topics related to HPV vaccination in Japan. Data were collected from 27 female students—divided into three groups: no intervention, print-based intervention, and social networking service-based intervention—using the health literacy scale and communicative and critical health literacy scale. Our primary results indicate that participants’ knowledge and health literacy improved post-intervention. Therefore, medical professionals must provide accurate scientific knowledge regarding routine HPV vaccination and the risk of cervical cancer to young women to improve their health literacy and subsequently increase the HPV vaccination rates.
... In Japan, public subsidies for HPV vaccination began in 2010, and it became a routine vaccination based on the Immunization Law in April 2013 [18]. However, in June 2013, the Japanese government stopped recommending temporary prophylactic vaccination after symptoms, including chronic pain and motor dysfunction, after HPV vaccination were reported in young women and brought to light by the Japanese media [19,20]. Subsequent investigations have failed to provide any scientific or epidemiological evidence of a causal relationship between the various symptoms reported after vaccination, such as pain and motor dysfunction, and the vaccination [21]. ...
The incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer are rising among young women in Japan. In November 2021, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reinstated the active recommendation for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which was discontinued in June 2013 due to reports of adverse reactions, including chronic pain and motor dysfunction, following vaccination. However, vaccine hesitancy among the younger generation remains, and it is essential to identify the barriers in vaccination uptake. Therefore, we aim to conduct a randomized study using different methods of providing educational contents to improve health literacy regarding cervical cancer and HPV vaccination among female students in Japan. Here, we present the results of our preliminary report and discuss current topics related to HPV vaccination in Japan. Data were collected from 27 female students—divided into three groups: no intervention, print-based intervention, and SNS-based intervention—using the Health Literacy Scale and Communicative and Critical Health Literacy scale. Our primary results indicate that participants’ knowledge and health literacy improved post intervention. Therefore, medical professionals must provide accurate scientific knowledge regarding routine HPV vaccination and the risk of cervical cancer to young women to improve their health literacy and subsequently increase the HPV vaccination rates.
Cancer will continue to be a major source of morbidity and mortality globally during the foreseeable future. Human papillomavirus (HPV)‐related cancer is now a serious problem in both women and men. The most common HPV‐related cancer is cervical cancer in females and oropharyngeal cancer in males. Eastern Africa has a high age‐standardized incidence of HPV‐related cancers, followed in order by Southern Africa, Central Africa, and then the rest of Africa. Among Asian and Oceania countries, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Maldives, and Myanmar have extremely high age‐standardized incidences and mortality. Oropharyngeal cancer is less common than cervical cancer, but the age‐standardized incidence, for both females and males, is higher in Western Europe, Northern Europe, North America, and Australia/New Zealand. Oropharyngeal cancer incidence rates differ significantly from the rates of cervical cancer within the same countries. In Asia and Oceania, the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer is particularly high among females in Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Australia, and it is highest among males in Bangladesh, New Caledonia, Australia, and French Polynesia. To a certain extent, cervical cancer can be reduced through the development of cervical screening programs and improvements in screening uptake. On the other hand, for oropharyngeal cancer, as of yet, no effective means of cancer screening has been established. Widespread uptake of HPV vaccine will contribute to the reduction of HPV‐related cancers in Asia and Oceania, but also in the rest of the world.
To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to elucidate the significance of cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) status in different age groups for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)2, CIN3 and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). There were 12 combinations based on cytology and hrHPV status [cytology: Atypical squamous cells (ASC) of undetermined significance, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, ASC not excluding high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and HSIL; hrHPV status: HPV16/18-positive (16/18+), hrHPV positive for subtypes other than 16/18 (others+) and hrHPV-negative (hrHPV-)]. All patients were categorized into four groups based on age (18-29, 30-39, 40-49 and ≥50 years). For patients with CIN2, CIN3 and SCC (CIN2+) (n=107), the distribution of cytology and hrHPV was investigated in each age group. In addition, for all patients (n=446), the occurrence of CIN2+ in each of the 12 combinations was investigated in each age group. In the 18-29-year age group, the most common combination was HSIL and 16/18+, followed by HSIL and others+, which accounted for 73% of CIN2+ cases. The occurrence of HSIL and 16/18+ decreased with increasing age, and no cases occurred in the 50-year age group. In the 18-29-year age group, all patients with HSIL and 16/18+ were diagnosed with CIN2+. CIN2+ was predominantly detected in patients with HSIL in the 18-29-year age group, as well as hrHPV- and others+. This definite distinction was not observed in any other age group. For CIN2+, the distribution patterns of cytology and hrHPV status combinations varied significantly among different age groups. Accordingly, the clinical impact of the combination of cytological findings and hrHPV status can vary among age groups.
