Recommending the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to parents of 9- to 10-year-old children allowed clinicians to discuss cancer prevention and avoid the sticky subject of sexual activity that often comes up with older age groups, new research showed.

The study, published in Pediatrics , also found that parents were generally open to having their 9- to 10-year-old children vaccinated for HPV.

“At ages 9-10, sexual activity was less salient, and HPV was the only vaccine to discuss,” said Caroline Tietbohl, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado in Aurora, Colorado, and lead author of the study. “This made discussions shorter and easier and also paid forward to the 11-year-old visit, where there was now one less vaccine to di

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