Abstract B18: Race and trust as predictors of willingness to recommend HPV vaccination

Racial disparities in cervical cancer incidence and mortality persist, with incidence rates highest among Latinas and mortality rates highest among Black women compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Routine vaccination against high-risk human papilloma virus (HPV) types that are causally associated with cervical cancer is recommended for females aged 11–12, with use by females as young as 9 years. Studies indicate a broad range in rates of vaccine acceptability among parents and caregivers but little attention has been paid to sociocultural factors that influence acceptability across racial groups. One such factor that may play a central role in vaccine acceptability is healthcare-related trust, a variable that often differs across racial groups and is typically lower in communities of color compared to whites. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to examine the association between race, healthcare-related trust, and willingness to recommend the HPV vaccine to younger female relatives in a diverse urban sample of adult women. Participants were 2147 women age 27 and older (mean age=49 years) recruited through a quota sampling strategy in Queens, NY as part of a larger intervention study. All participants completed street intercept interviews that asked about basic sociodemographic and healthcare information, one9s prior awareness of the HPV vaccine, and whether one would recommend the vaccine to a daughter or other family members. Participants were also asked the extent to which they trusted doctors and hospitals. Approximately 60% of the sample self-identified as African American or Latino and the remainder as White or Asian. Seventy-six percent reported that they had heard of the HPV vaccine previously. Multivariable logistic regression that included only sociodemographic and healthcare variables revealed that, compared to Latinas, Black (OR=.522, 95% CI: .400 − .683, p Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2011;4(10 Suppl):B18.