Swedish study links HPV vaccination before pregnancy to lower preterm-birth odds
A Swedish study of 624,713 births found that women vaccinated against HPV before pregnancy had lower odds of several adverse outcomes, including preterm and very preterm birth, than unvaccinated women. The BMJ study found stronger associations among women vaccinated before age 17, but its authors cautioned that the results do not establish that vaccination caused the differences.
Bottom line — Very preterm birth odds were 15% lower among vaccinated women, according to the Swedish study.
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The study covered singleton births to women aged 16–35 who had not given birth before, from 2006 to 2023.
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MedPage Today reports that 14.8% of the women had received the quadrivalent HPV vaccine before pregnancy.
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Vaccination was associated with 7% lower odds of preterm pre-labour rupture of membranes and 8% lower odds of a severely small-for-gestational-age infant, AusDoc reports.
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MedPage Today says the associations with preterm-birth outcomes weakened after researchers adjusted for prior high-grade cervical lesions.
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The researchers told MedPage Today that limited information on cervical treatment and possible residual confounding mean the proposed explanation remains exploratory.