This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Oral HPV infection in England associated with smoking, sex
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Adults in England who smoked or who reported a greater number of sex partners were more likely to be infected with high-risk HPV, according to study results published in BMJ Open.
“Oral high-risk HPV infection rates were found to be 2.2% in a study of 700 adults in Sheffield, England,” Vanessa Hearnden, BSc (Hons), PhD, FHEA, lecturer in tissue engineering and biomaterials at the University of Sheffield, England, told Infectious Disease News. “In line with previous studies it was shown that smoking and number of sexual partners were risk factors for oral HPV infection.”
Hearnden and colleagues conducted an observational case-control study from April 2013 to August 2014. The participants were aged 18 to 60 years and included the following: 179 university students, 163 hospital staff members, 13 dental hospital patients, 122 Sexual Health Sheffield patients and 223 members of the general public. People with previous HPV vaccination, oral lesions and previous diagnosis of oral cancer were excluded from the study.
The researchers asked participants to complete a questionnaire related to smoking status, alcohol consumption and sexual history. The study participants also provided an oral rinse and gargle sample to test for oral high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) and an oral mucosal buccal epithelial cell sample and blood sample to measure whole blood folate concentration. The primary outcome was the prevalence of oral HR-HPV in the study population.
Fifteen participants (2.2%) tested positive for oral HR-HPV, including four who were positive for HPV16 and one who was positive for HPV18. Twenty samples were excluded from testing because of insufficient material for HPV detection.
The researchers reported that former smokers were significantly more likely to be HR-HPV positive compared with participants who never smoked (OR = 3.12; 95% CI, 1.07-9.15); however, they also wrote that the smoker sample was too small to determine the risk for the population. Participants with more than six sexual partners also were more likely to be HR-HPV positive compared with those participants with fewer than six partners (6-10 partners, OR = 5.93; 95% CI, 1.18-29.26; 11 or more partners; OR = 7.70; 95% CI, 1.58-37.51).
Hearnden and colleagues reported no link between folate status and HPV infection likelihood.
“Rates of HR-HPV vary across the world; however, [our study] has shown rates of 2.2%, which is in line with recent meta-analysis of oral high risk HPV infection rates,” Hearnden said. “Of the 15 HPV positive cases, four were positive for HPV16, one for HPV18 and 10 for other high-risk HPV strains categorized as class 1 carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. While these subtypes are less commonly seen in oropharyngeal cancers at present, it is important to study this further and to consider future vaccination programs, which cover more strains of HPV to increase the protection against oral and genital HPV related cancers.”
The researchers also noted that the prevalence in the study was lower than two other studies performed in the United Kingdom, including a 3.7% rate for a Scottish cohort attending dental clinics and a 5.9% prevalence of men who have sex with men in London. – by Bruce Thiel
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts