Misconception: human papillomavirus vaccine and infertility.
BACKGROUND
This study sought to determine if parents of males express concerns about vaccine-associated infertility (VAI) with the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and to understand the impact of those concerns.


METHODS
Parents of sons were surveyed to determine VAI concerns. Logistic regression was used to find if parents worried about VAI had lower knowledge of HPV disease, more concern for side effects, lacked information about vaccination, or had lower intention to vaccinate.


RESULTS
In all, 39% of parents were worried about VAI. Parents worried about VAI had similar knowledge of HPV compared with other parents. Parents worried about VAI had twice the odds of agreeing the vaccine may cause side effects and agreeing they did not have enough information compared to their counterparts. Parents worried about VAI less often intended to vaccinate sons than other parents.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest many parents worry about VAI in sons with HPV vaccine.
1The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Christine L
CL
Schuler
Chassidy J
CJ
Hanley
Tamera
T
Coyne-Beasley
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology*; D033182:Intention; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D014611:Vaccination / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines
HPV; HPV vaccine; infertility; parent; side effects