Objective: To systematically evaluate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination intentions among female university students in China and establish a basis for improving HPV vaccination coverage.
Methods: We searched CNKI, EBSCO, JSTOR, MESH or Emtree, Weipu Information Chinese Journal Service Platform, Wanfang Data, China Biomedical Literature Database, PubMed, Embase, Web for the Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library to identify peer-reviewed published research on intentions by female college students in China to receive the HPV vaccination.
Results: A preliminary search of 408 papers resulted in the inclusion of 12 studies, all cross-sectional, of moderate or high quality, with a sample size of 12,600. The HPV vaccination intention rate among Chinese female university students was 16.67% (95% CI: 12.38% to 21.24%). The vaccination intention rates of medical students, non-medical students, and Tibetan students were 30.37% (95% CI: 28.80-34.12%), 15.53% (95% CI: 11.2-20.22%), and 14.12% (95 % CI: 10.59-18.04%), respectively. The vaccination intention rates of the participants with parental education of junior high school and below, high school, and bachelor's degree and above were 15.36% (95 % CI: 11.59 to 17.54%), 17.18% (95 % CI: 12.33% to 19.61%), and 19.81% (95 % CI: 15.61% to 22.25%), respectively. The intention rates of vaccination among residents of first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities were 17.64% (95% CI: 12.76-21.63%), 15.39% (95% CI: 11.74-19.82%), and 13.87% (95% CI: 9.36-15.65%), respectively. The results of the meta-analysis were relatively stable with little publication bias.
Conclusion: The intention rate of HPV vaccination among female university students in China is low and varies among different populations. There is a need to increase HPV vaccination promotion efforts to improve the intention of female university students to receive the vaccine.
Keywords: Chinese female university students; HPV vaccine; meta-analysis; vaccination intention.