A nationwide post-marketing survey of knowledge, attitudes and recommendations towards human papillomavirus vaccines among healthcare providers in China

Since licensure of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in mainland China, little research has been conducted about healthcare providers' (HCPs) understanding and recommendation of HPV vaccine. A multi-stage convenience sample of Chinese HCPs (N = 5270) were surveyed, involving obstetrician-gynecologists, HCPs from Division of Expanded Program on Immunization (DEPI), Community Health Center (CHC) and other non-HPV closely related professions. Binary logistic regression was conducted to explore factors associated with knowledge and recommendation behaviors. Overall, HCPs showed basic HPV/HPV vaccine knowledge with median (interquartile range) score at 9.5 (7.5-11.6) out of 16 and relatively high recommendation behavior (74.8%). Identified knowledge gaps among HCPs included risk factors of HPV infection, best time to vaccinate, prophylactic functions of HPV vaccine and especially classification of low-risk and high-risk types. Profession-specific analysis in individual knowledge item showed HCPs from CHC were suboptimal on HPV while obstetrician-gynecologists were less competent on HPV vaccine knowledge. Obstetrician-gynecologists also recommended vaccination less frequently than HCPs from DEPI and CHC. Besides being key predictors of recommendation practice (2.74, 95% CI: 2.34-3.21), knowledge shared independent determinants with recommendation behavior on age and ethnicity and additionally associated with education and title by itself. Findings highlight overall and profession-specific gaps on HPV and HPV vaccine knowledge and recommendation practice. Future education and training efforts should be profession-niche-targeting and focus much on HCPs with lower title or education background and from minorities.