Economic evaluations of human papillomavirus vaccines

Vaccines to prevent infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) have recently been approved for use in preventing cervical precancer and cancer. This paper reviews the HPV vaccine effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies published to date. In order to fully appreciate the strengths and limitations of the different studies, a short background is provided on the natural history of HPV and cervical cancer, current prevention strategies and HPV vaccine trial results to date. Each study is then summarized in terms of model structure, parameter estimates for the natural history of HPV and cervical cancer, assumptions regarding screening and vaccination, and key findings. The review concludes with recommendations for additional research and a five-year perspective.