Gender-Related Health Care Discrimination and Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Among Transgender and Nonbinary Young Adults in the United States

Madina Agénor; Elle Lett; Gabriel R Murchison; Ariella R Tabaac; Nadia Dowshen; Allegra R Gordon

doi:10.1089/trgh.2021.0077

Gender-Related Health Care Discrimination and Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Among Transgender and Nonbinary Young Adults in the United States

Transgend Health. 2023 Jul 28;8(4):389-395. doi: 10.1089/trgh.2021.0077. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Madina Agénor^{1

2

3}, Elle Lett^{4

5}, Gabriel R Murchison⁶, Ariella R Tabaac^{7

8}, Nadia Dowshen^{9

10}, Allegra R Gordon^{7

11}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
² Center for Health Promotion and Health Equity, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
³ The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁴ Center for Health Equity Advancement, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁵ Center for Applied Transgender Studies, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁶ Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁷ Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁸ Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁹ Department of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
¹⁰ Craig Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
¹¹ Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

PMID: 37525839
PMCID: PMC10387145 (available on 2024-07-28)
DOI: 10.1089/trgh.2021.0077

Abstract

Although transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people can acquire human papillomavirus (HPV), research examining HPV vaccination in these populations is scarce. TNB individuals experience high levels of gender-related health care discrimination, which may undermine HPV vaccine uptake. Using data from a national online survey (N=716), we found a negative association between gender-related health care discrimination and HPV vaccination among transgender women and nonbinary individuals who were assigned male at birth (AMAB; odds ratio [OR]=0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.29-0.93). Addressing gender-related health care discrimination may facilitate HPV vaccination and help prevent HPV-related cancers among transgender women and nonbinary AMAB individuals.

Keywords: discrimination; gender identity; papillomavirus; transgender health; vaccination; young adults.