Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2025 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Rate ePoster
Video

Head and Neck Surgery

(A551) From Head to Cervix: Comprehensive Analysis of HPV Representation on Instagram

Monday, October 13, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT
Location: OTO EXPO, Posters

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Amy Wang, BA

    Student
    University of Texas Medical Branch
    Katy, Texas, United States

  • NN

    Nhu Nguyen, n/a

    University of Texas Medical Branch, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Arianna V. Ramirez, MD

    Resident
    University of Texas Medical Branch
    Galveston, Texas, United States

  • Orly M. Coblens, MD

    Associate Professor & Residency Program Director
    University of Texas Medical Branch Hospitals
    Galveston, Texas, United States

  • Sepehr Shabani, MD

    Assistant Professor
    City of Hope National Medical Center
    Duarte, California, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Viran J. Ranasinghe, MD

    Assistant Professor
    University of Texas Medical Branch
    Galveston, TX, United States

Disclosure(s):
Amy Wang, BA: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Orly M. Coblens, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Sepehr Shabani, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Viran J. Ranasinghe, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.


Introduction: Adoption of HPV vaccination, which can prevent related cancers in the head, neck, cervix, and anogenital regions, is influenced by limited HPV and cancer awareness, plus vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. We investigate the content of HPV-related topics on Instagram to determine which populations of authors are engaging in HPV discourse, to explore the content of these posts, and to reveal factors that might help physicians better educate the public and patients about HPV.

Methods: All public social media posts on Instagram were searched in October of 2024 with the search terms: #HPVvaccine, #Gardasil, #HPVcancer, and #Tonsilcancer. Posts were excluded if unrelated to HPV vaccine or cancers or if written in a non-English language. Posts were subclassified and analyzed for content including topic of posts, media type, authorship, depiction of HPV vaccination or cancer, tone, and popularity.

Results: Of 150 posts included in preliminary analysis, most authorship came from personal accounts (n=61, 40.7%), followed by medical organizations (n=48, 32.0%), and nonmedical health accounts (n=27, 18.0%). Only 14 (9.3%) of posts were authored by physicians.  There were no results for #HPVvaccine; users are directed to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. 39 (78.0%) of posts on #Gardasil were discussed in a negative tone, many relaying purported adverse effects of vaccination (n=31, 62.0%). The majority of posts under #HPVcancer and #Tonsilcancer were regarding the patient experience (n=14, 28.0% and n=33, 66.0%).

Conclusions: Online physician contribution to the HPV vaccination and associated cancer discourse is scarce compared to patient and nonmedical account interaction. Patients use cancer-related tags to discuss their experiences with diagnosis, treatment, and remission with fewer posts regarding vaccination. In lieu of an existing #HPVvaccine results page, many anti-vaccination posts are found on #Gardasil. Online outreach and HPV education by physicians may dispel misinformation shared by non-physician authors and encourage HPV vaccination, reducing future HPV-related cancers.