Optimising cervical screening after the introduction of HPV vaccination in Australia: Modelling of outcomes

这项研究项目将帮助决策在引入人乳头瘤病毒(或HPV)疫苗后，如何最好地在澳大利亚进行宫颈筛查。该项目将使用计算机模拟技术来探索疫苗接种和筛查的不同情景，并确定最佳方法。该项目涉及一组在癌症流行病学、癌症筛查和计算机模拟方法等领域拥有专业知识的国际合作者。HPV是导致宫颈癌发生的病毒，临床试验表明，为青春期女孩接种HPV疫苗在预防未来可能导致癌症的疾病方面非常有效。然而，澳大利亚目前有一个非常有效的巴氏涂片筛查计划，在引入疫苗接种后的第一阶段，重要的是妇女继续像往常一样接受筛查。从长远来看，接种HPV疫苗有望减少巴氏涂片的需求。这项研究将非常详细地模拟HPV在澳大利亚人群中的传播方式，以及接种疫苗后这种情况将如何变化。该模拟将解决对未来任何公共HPV疫苗接种计划具有重要意义的问题，例如男性是否应该像女性一样接种疫苗。该模拟还将用于确定未来巴氏涂片的最佳开始年龄和频率。这项研究的结果将对政策制定者非常重要。从长远来看，这项研究将确保在引入HPV疫苗后，就巴氏涂片的时间和频率制定最佳建议。

This research project will aid decision-making about how best to perform cervical screening in Australia after the introduction of vaccination against the human papillomavirus (or HPV). The project will use computer simulation techniques to explore different scenarios for vaccination and screening and to determine the optimal approach. This project involves a group of international collaborators with expertise in a number of areas including cancer epidemiology, screening for cancer, and computer simulation methods. HPV is the virus responsible for the development of cervical cancer, and clinical trials have demonstrated that HPV vaccines administered to adoloescent girls are very effective at preventing disease that might have led to cancer in the future. However, Australia currently has a very effective Pap smear screening program, and in the first phase after the introduction of vaccination it will be important for women to continue being screened as usual. In the long term, HPV vaccination is expected to reduce the need for Pap smears. The research will involve a very detailed simulation of how HPV is transmitted in the Australian population, and how this will change after vaccination. The simulation will address questions of importance for any future public HPV vaccination program, such as whether males should be vaccinated as well as females. The simulation will also be used to determine the optimal starting age and frequency of Pap smears in the future. The outcomes of the research will be very important for policy-makers. In the long term, this research will ensure that the best recommendations are formulated for the timing and frequency of Pap smears after HPV vaccination is introduced.