KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to analyze incidence rates of HPV-associated cancers in medically underserved areas of Texas from 2006-2019.
- Results showed that sociodemographics, risk factors, and care access explain regional cancer incidence differences, suggesting targeted prevention.
While cervical cancer incidence rates (IR) in the United States have declined in recent decades, rates of other cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) have increased. Texas, in particular, has a large medically underserved population at elevated risk for HPV-related cancers.
Thao N Hoang and the team aimed to IR of HPV-associated cancers in East Texas and the Texas-Mexico border region compared to other Texas regions from 2006 to 2019.
Data on HPV-associated cancers diagnosed between 2006 and 2019 were obtained from the Texas Cancer Registry. Researchers included cases of cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers, along with patient demographic information. They calculated IRs per 100,000 individuals and used heat maps to visualise county-level cancer IRs.
To address potential confounding variables, they incorporated county-level data on smoking, excessive alcohol use, obesity, sexually transmitted infections, and availability of primary care physicians and dentists from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program.
The study reported IRs by region and time period. They also estimated unadjusted and adjusted risk ratios (RR) for the association between each cancer type and region. They developed adjusted models for each cancer by period to observe time trends in regional differences.
The adjusted model indicated a lower risk of anal, cervical, and oropharyngeal cancer in certain areas of the Texas-Mexico border compared to the rest of Texas. They also observed an increase in anal and oropharyngeal cancer risk over time, along with a decrease in cervical and vaginal cancer risk.
The study concluded that sociodemographics, behavioral risk factors, and access to care may explain regional cancer incidence differences, suggesting that targeted prevention efforts, particularly in low socioeconomic status communities, could benefit future generations.
Funding was provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, NIAMS NIH HHS/United States.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39190562/
Hoang TN, Berenson AB, Shan Y, et al. (2024). “Trends in HPV-associated cancer incidence in Texas medically underserved regions.” Cancer Med. 2024;13(16):e70133. doi:10.1002/cam4.70133
