Cervical pre-cancer in young Scots women has almost been wiped out, according to new research.
It’s thanks to the roll-out of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for all girls aged 11 and 18, introduced a decade ago.
The most recent figures show a reduction of up to 90 per cent of pre-cancerous cells and also revealed a drop in cervical cancer by 69 per cent among women aged 20 to 24 in the last seven years.
Glasgow Caledonian University’s senior research fellow Dr Kevin Pollock, one of the lead researchers in the study, said: “The main message is that the vaccine works. As long as the high uptake continues, the virus has got nowhere to go and it is being eliminated.”
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Glasgow Caledonian’s research was conducted along with academics from Strathclyde, Aberdeen and Edinburgh universities.
HPV is a sexually transmitted infection and some types are linked to cervical cancer, one of the most common cancers in women aged under 35 in the UK.
Infection with HPV types 16 and 18 are known to be the cause of at least 80 per cent of cases in Scotland.
Dr Pollock said: “The conclusion is that the vaccine has exceeded expectation.
“It is associated with near elimination of both low and high-grade cervical disease in young Scottish women eight years after the vaccine programme started.
“The figures are impressive and show a reduction of up to 90 per cent of cervical disease abnormalities. These data are consistent with the reduced circulation of high-risk HPV infection in Scotland and confirm that the HPV vaccine should significantly reduce cervical cancer in the next few years.”
