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The efficacy of vaccination against HPV 16 and 18 does not seem to decline during long-term follow-up, according to a recently published review of 10 randomised controlled trials involving some 46,436 patients and five observational studies.

Vaccination prevented 83 and 90 per cent of incident and chronic infections (HPV 16 and 18) during a median followup of 25.5 and 27 months respectively. During a median follow-up of 36 months, vaccination prevented 84 per cent of the precancerous cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2+ lesions.

Longer-term data seem to confirm the effectiveness of vaccines against HPV 16 and 18. One study with a sevenyear follow-up reported that vaccination prevented 94 per cent of new infections as well as 86 per cent of CIN 2+ lesions positive for HPV 16 or 18.

However the small numbers meant that the CIN difference was not statistically significant. Based on two studies, vaccination prevented 95 per cent of persistent infections over a median of six years. No data are available on the vaccine's long-term efficacy against CIN 3+ lesions.