Quantifying HPV disparities for people experiencing homelessness Galvin receives NIH grant to establish baseline prevalence
People experiencing homelessness and housing instability face higher risks than the general population for HPV and its related cancers, but intersectional data analysis is lacking that could be used to develop interventions.
Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston Assistant Professor Annalynn Galvin, PhD, RN, will use a new federal grant to establish baseline data on HPV-related health disparities. Her study, “HPV and HPV-related cancer prevention prevalence among people experiencing homelessness in the United States, 2006-2018 (R03CA303738),” is funded by a two-year, $170,409 award from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health.
“People experiencing homelessness or housing instability have significantly higher age-adjusted HPV-related cancer incidence and mortality compared to the general population,” Galvin said. “By linking information from two large databases, we will lay the groundwork for developing evidence-based strategies for bolstering HPV vaccination and screening behaviors among this population.”
Galvin will study existing data from the restricted-use National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to quantify the prevalence of HPV infection and HPV-related cancer prevention behaviors, comparing people who have sought housing assistance with people who have not.
“Ultimately, our data analysis can be used to design better tailored, relevant interventions that provide HPV-related cancer prevention support to people who are unstably housed,” Galvin said.
Galvin is working with co-investigator Erika L. Thompson, PhD, MPH, CPH, FAAHB, an associate professor in the Department of Quantitative and Qualitative Health Sciences at UT School of Public Health - San Antonio.
