Safety of human papillomavirus 6, 11, 16 and 18 (recombinant): systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective

To identify and quantify the adverse effects associated with the recombinant human papillomavirus (types 6, 11, 16 and 18) vaccine in adolescents.

Data source

Systematic review of randomized clinical trials from PubMed, SciELO and Lilacs databases. Articles investigating the safety of the vaccine in subjects under 18 years and comparing the recombinant human papillomavirus types 6, 11, 16 and 18 vaccine with a control group were included. Meta-analyses were performed for the outcomes of pain, erythema, swelling and fever, using clinical trials with maximum Jadad score.

Data synthesis

Fourteen studies were included. The most common adverse effects related to the human papillomavirus vaccine were effects with no severity (pain, erythema, edema, and fever). Five studies were used for the meta-analyses: pain–risk difference (RD)=11% (p<0.001); edema–RD=8% (p<0.001); erythema–RD=5% (p<0.001); fever–RD=2% (p<0.003).

Conclusions

The recombinant human papillomavirus types 6, 11, 16 and 18 vaccine was safe and well tolerated. The main adverse effects related to vaccination were pain, erythema, edema and fever. The low frequency of severe adverse effects encourages the administration of the vaccine in the population at risk.