Attitudes of undergraduate university women towards HPV vaccination: a cross-sectional study in Ottawa, Canada

BACKGROUND: Persistent infection with certain subtypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. Although two prophylactic vaccines have been licensed in Canada against cancerous subtypes of HPV, vaccine uptake has been lower than anticipated. The primary objective of this study was to determine the acceptability of catch-up HPV vaccination to undergraduate university women under the age of 25, by assessing their perceptions of HPV vaccination. METHODS: A total of 401 University of Ottawa female undergraduate students participated in a cross-sectional bilingual web-based survey on HPV vaccination. RESULTS: The prevalence of immunization with at least 1 HPV vaccine dose was 49% in the study population. Although the overall attitude of study participants towards the vaccine was positive, vaccinated respondents had a more favourable attitude towards the vaccine than non-vaccinated respondents. Approximately half of the non-vaccinated respondents were interested in receiving the vaccine at some point in the future. The primary barriers to HPV vaccination identified by non-vaccinated respondents were lack of knowledge about the vaccines, potential vaccine side effects and cost of vaccination. Multivariable analysis comparing non-vaccinated respondents who intended to be vaccinated and those who did not suggests that the former group had a more favourable attitude towards the vaccine and would be influenced by doctor recommendation. CONCLUSIONS: Offering HPV vaccination for women aged 18 to 25 provides an opportunity to address suboptimal vaccination coverage in the population and may reduce health inequities demonstrated by variations in cervical cancer incidence within jurisdictions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12905-018-0622-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.