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Receiving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine before pregnancy is associated with a lower risk of major pregnancy complications, including preterm birth, with a greater reduction in risk seen among women vaccinated at an earlier age, according to a large Swedish study published by The BMJ.

The findings suggest that the benefits of HPV vaccination may extend beyond cancer prevention to reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes, say the researchers.

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. The quadrivalent HPV vaccine targets four types of HPV, including two (HPV types 16 and 18) that are responsible for about 70% of all cervical cancers. Growing evidence indicates that HPV infection and the methods used to treat cervical lesions caused by HPV are linked to an increased risk of pregnancy complications, including preterm birth, so preventing HPV holds potential benefits.

To explore this further, researchers in Sweden used data from nationwide Swedish registries to evaluate the association between quadrivalent HPV vaccination before pregnancy and the subsequent risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Their findings are based on 624,713 singleton, first-time births among women ages 16–35 in Sweden between 2006 and 2023, of whom 92,620 (15%) had received quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccination before pregnancy.

Cases were women with at least one adverse pregnancy outcome, including preterm birth (before 37 weeks), very preterm birth (28 to 31 weeks), preterm and/or prelabor rupture of membranes, delivering a small or severely small baby, stillbirth or newborn death.

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