ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacoepidemiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1622303
Human papillomavirus vaccination poses different risks for various cranial nerve disorders -a retrospective cohort study using a real-world database
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
- 2Division of Otolaryngology Head and Neck surgery, Taichung veterans General hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
- 3Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaoshiung, Taiwan
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Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines act against HPV infection and some cancers. Various cranial nerve disorders are known to occur after HPV viral infections. However, studies on the relationship between human papillomavirus vaccination and cranial nerve disorders are limited. Here, we aimed to evaluate the association between human papillomavirus vaccination and risks of cranial nerve disorders in young girls.We enrolled 261,111 women aged between 9 and 26 years, and they had received HPV vaccination between January 2018 and December 2022. These subjects were compared with those controls who never received HPV vaccination using a propensity score-matched (1:1) based on the TriNetX U.S. Collaborative Network. Risks on incidences of various cranial nerve disorders were evaluated. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also performed.The HPV-vaccinated cohort, on one hand, had significantly lower risks on hearing loss (aHR:0.490, 95% CI:0.419-0.572), facial nerve disorders (aHR:0.690, 95% CI:0.522-0.912); disorders of vestibular function disorders (aHR:0.523, 95% CI:0.422-0.647); and similarly on other inner ear disorders (aHR:0.537, 95% CI:0.392-0.735) and trigeminal nerve disorders (aHR:0.328, 95% CI:0.200-0.538). On the other hand, the HPV-vaccinated cohort had significantly higher risks of odor and taste disorders (aHR: 3.136, 95% CI: 0 2.562-3.840).Kaplan-Meier curves of different cranial nerve disorders also revealed significant probability disparities between the two cohorts (Log-Rank test, p < 0.001).For females between 9 and 26 years old, their HPV vaccination was associated with on one hand, lower risks of cranial nerve disorders, like hearing loss, vestibular function/other diseases of the inner ear, facial nerve disorders, and disorders of the trigeminal nerve, and on the other hand, higher risks on smell and taste disorders, as revealed over a year-long followup period.
Keywords: Human papillomavirus vaccine, Cranial nerve disorders, TriNetX, cohort study, HPV
Received: 27 May 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Wang, Chang and Wei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wen Chun Lin, Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
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