The objective of this study was to determine human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and identify factors associated with infection in sexually experienced and inexperienced females initiating HPV vaccination.
Correspondence: Dr Widdice, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medicine Center, 3333 Burnet Ave, MLC 4000, Cincinnati, OH 45229 (lea.widdice@cchmc.org).
Author Contributions: Study concept and design: Widdice, Bernstein, Shew, Fortenberry, and Kahn. Acquisition of data: Brown, Patel, and Kahn. Analysis and interpretation of data: Widdice, Brown, Bernstein, Ding, Fortenberry, and Kahn. Drafting of the manuscript: Widdice, Bernstein, Patel, and Fortenberry. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Widdice, Brown, Bernstein, Ding, Patel, Shew, Fortenberry, and Kahn. Statistical analysis: Widdice and Ding. Obtained funding: Fortenberry and Kahn. Administrative, technical, and material support: Widdice, Patel, and Fortenberry. Study supervision: Widdice, Bernstein, and Kahn.
Financial Disclosure: Dr Brown receives honoraria for lectures related to HPV and vaccination from Merck and Co Inc. These honoraria are donated to charities. Dr Brown's laboratory is funded in part by a grant from Merck and Co Inc. Indiana University and Merck and Co Inc have a confidential agreement that pays the university based on certain landmarks of vaccine development. Dr Brown receives a portion of these payments as income. Dr Brown serves on the Women's Health Advisory Board at Merck and Co Inc. Dr Shew is an investigator for Merck and Co Inc–related vaccine trials. Dr Fortenberry received a 1-time honorarium for delivery of educational material, not related to the content of this article, from Merck and Co Inc, makers of a quadrivalent HPV vaccine. Dr Kahn serves as co-chair of 2 clinical trials of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine in HIV-infected individuals. The trials are funded by the National Institutes of Health but Merck and Co Inc is providing vaccine and immunogenicity testing for both. She also chairs a grant review committee for the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine; the grant mechanism is funded through Merck and Co Inc.