Awareness of HPV, HPV vaccine and HPV-associated cancers among Arab Americans

We evaluated the awareness of HPV, HPV vaccine and HPV-associated cancers among Arab Americans. This was a cross-sectional study conducted between March and July 2023 among self-identifying Arab Americans residing in Southeast Michigan (n = 295). Adjusted multivariable logistic regression models estimated the associations between HPV, the vaccine and HPV-associated cancers (cervical, anal, oropharyngeal, penile, vaginal, and vulvar) awareness and sociodemographic and behavioral factors. Awareness of HPV-associated cancers were as follows: cervical (50.5%), vaginal (48.4%), vulvar (42.4%), penile (41.5%), anal (41.5%), and oropharyngeal (37.9%) cancers. In the multivariable logistic regression models, compared to females, males had lower odds of being aware that HPV can cause cervical (aOR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.20–0.73), anal (aOR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.26–0.95), vaginal (aOR = 0.40; 95% CI: 0.21–0.76), and vulvar (aOR = 0.51; 95% CI: 0.27–0.97) cancers. Similarly, respondents with some college/associate degree had lower odds of being aware that HPV can cause cervical (aOR = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.14–0.69), anal (aOR = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.14–0.70), oropharyngeal (aOR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.15–0.80), penile (aOR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.14–0.71), vaginal (aOR = 0.30; 95% CI: 0.14–0.66), and vulvar (aOR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.15–0.75) cancers compared to those with college degrees. This underscores the necessity for targeted interventions to improve awareness among this population.