Risk messages about HPV, cervical cancer, and the HPV vaccine Gardasil: a content analysis of Canadian and U.S. national newspaper articles.

The human papillomavirus vaccine (Gardasil) is a significant advancement in women's health. We compared the reporting of fear-inducing messages about human papillomavirus, cervical cancer, and the human papillomavirus vaccine in Canadian and U.S. national newspapers between January 2006 and December 2007. Significant differences between countries were found in the number of articles containing fear messages about human papillomavirus, cervical cancer, and the human papillomavirus vaccine. Educational level of readability was higher than recommended for the public, and the emotional tone of the articles became progressively negative over time. Our findings suggest that public discussion of some elements of the human papillomavirus vaccine message that could cause alarm or worry for women may need to be addressed within political and cultural contexts.