Gender and Sexual Orientation Differences in Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Uptake among Chinese Young Adults

Abstract

To date, empirical studies on HPV vaccine uptake are still limited in Chinese populations and mainly conducted in female cohorts. In order to inform health services planning and health promotion programmes for HPV vaccination, this cross-sectional study aimed to report the prevalence of self-reported HPV vaccination status and to examine gender and sexual orientation differences in the uptake of HPV vaccine in Chinese college students. The overall prevalence of HPV vaccine uptake was 27.6% (n = 242), with a significantly higher prevalence in females (39.7%) than in males (4.7%). 91.4% of subjects heard about HPV vaccination, with a significantly higher prevalence in females (93.8%) than in males (86.8%). The prevalence of HPV vaccine uptake was only 2.6% for bisexual/ homosexual males and 5.0% for heterosexual males. Only 45.8% of the overall subjects knew HPV vaccination is not for females only, with a significantly higher prevalence in females (49.7%) than in males (38.6%). The low prevalence of male HPV vaccine uptake and awareness called for the need to have more male-specific HPV campaigns to promote HPV vaccination awareness and uptake in males to reduce the overall prevalence of HPV infection.