HPV Vaccination in Male Physicians: A Survey of Gynecologists and Otolaryngology Surgeons' Attitudes towards Vaccination in Themselves and Their Patients

Studies suggest that men and parents of boys would benefit from the knowledge their health care providers communicate to them about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. A barrier to vaccination among adult males, parents, and providers is the belief that the HPV vaccine does not directly benefit them and that cervical cancer prevention for females is not sufficiently motivating. This study aimed to address attitudes towards HPV vaccination in a population of male surgeons in gynaecology and otolaryngology in Ontario, Canada, as these are specialists who see and treat HPV-related disease. Specifically, do these male surgeons feel they are at higher risk of HPV exposure due to occupation-related exposure, have they been vaccinated, what are barriers to vaccination, and would they advocate for vaccination of male patients?

An internet-based survey of 17 questions was created to address attitudes towards male HPV vaccination and then distributed to male residents and physicians affiliated with the departments of obstetrics and gynaecology and otolaryngology at 6 Ontario universities. Most respondents (51/63, 81.0%) had not been vaccinated against HPV, yet would consider vaccination in the future (41/51, 80.4%). Significantly more residents would consider vaccination compared to staff physicians (p = .03). Personal protection from benign HPV disease was the most common motivating factor (25/59, 42.4%).

Among participants who were not vaccinated, several themes were revealed in their responses. Firstly, vaccine safety was not noted to be a concern. This is in line with best available evidence and suggests that these frontline providers have sound knowledge of HPV vaccination. Others included: perceived lack of efficacy in men; paucity of data pertaining to the indirect benefits of male vaccination in women; and personal cost. A notable barrier was concern about being over the recommended age (9/44, 20.4%). Despite these barriers, most participants would recommend the HPV vaccine to both male patients (49/62, 79.0%) and male partners of female patients (47/62, 75.8%).

This study demonstrates that male gynaecologists and otolaryngologists had largely favourable attitudes towards HPV vaccination, though few had received vaccination. The findings may serve to increase awareness of the increasing role of HPV vaccination in males. According to researchers, identification of barriers and attitudes towards vaccination can help identify ways to increase the overall uptake of important vaccination effort.