Since the introduction of the national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program there has been 61 percent less cases of genital warts among young women in Australia, according to a recent study.

After reviewing more than a million patient encounters between 2000 and 2012, researchers from the University of Sydney saw a significant year-on-year reduction in the management rate of genital warts in women aged 15 to 27 years since the vaccination program started. The findings are published in PLOS One journal.

"This is the first study to report the impact of HPV vaccinations on genital warts management in general practice, which is where the majority of cases are treated," Christopher Harrison, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "The results show that the program has been a widespread success."

The HPV vaccination program was introduced in 2007, and the rate of genital wart presentation fell dramatically from 4.33 per 1,000 encounters pre-program (2002-2006) to 1.67 per 1,000 encounters in the post-program period (2008-2012).

Australia was one of the first countries to provide the HPV vaccine free to young women through a national immunization program. The vaccine protects against two major viral causes of genital warts (HPV 6 and 11) and two major viral causes of cervical cancer (HPV 16 and 18).

"We looked at women potentially covered by the vaccination program (15-27 years), and the data showed a 61 per cent decrease in the management rate of genital warts in the four years after the program started, compared with the four years before the program," Harrison said. "This is an excellent result as not only do genital warts cause distress in affected patients, but treatment is at a substantial cost to the health system."

Researchers said that for all other age-sex groups who were not covered by the program there was no significant change in the management rate of genital warts between the pre-program and post-program periods.

The findings were recently published in the journal PLOS One.