Faculty Collaboration Database

The epidemiology of oral HPV infection among a multinational sample of healthy men. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011 Jan;20(1):172-82

Date

12/15/2010

Pubmed ID

21148755

Pubmed Central ID

PMC3027138

DOI

10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-10-0682

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-78651439813 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   162 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Oral human papillomavirus type-16 (HPV16) infection is a risk factor for oropharyngeal cancer. We examined oral HPV infection among healthy men.

METHODS: Oral rinse/gargle specimens and questionnaire data were collected from 1,688 healthy men aged 18 to 74 (median = 31 years), from the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. HPV16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58 and 59, and noncarcinogenic HPV types were detected using Roche Linear Array.

RESULTS: Oral HPV DNA was detected in 67 of 1,680 (4.0%, 95% CI = 3.1%-5.0%) β-globin-positive specimens; carcinogenic HPVs were detected in 1.3% (95% CI = 0.8%-2.0%; n = 22) and HPV16 was the most commonly detected carcinogenic HPV type (0.6%, 95% CI = 0.2%-1.1%; n = 10). The prevalence of oral HPV infection was similar by country except for HPV55, which had notably higher prevalence in Mexico (3.0%) than Brazil (0%) or the United States (0.2%). Oral HPV prevalence nonsignificantly increased over increasing age categories (P(trend) = 0.096). The strongest predictor of oral HPV was current tobacco use, which increased the odds 2.5-fold (95% CI = 1.4-4.4). Oral sexual behaviors were not associated with oral HPV infection.

CONCLUSIONS: Oral HPV16 infection was rare in healthy men, especially at younger ages, and was positively associated with current tobacco use.

IMPACT: Oral HPV appears to be about 10-fold less prevalent than infection at genital sites in men (4% vs. ∼40%, respectively). It remains unclear whether this reflects reduced exposure or if the oral region is more resistant to HPV infection compared with anogenital sites.

Author List

Kreimer AR, Villa A, Nyitray AG, Abrahamsen M, Papenfuss M, Smith D, Hildesheim A, Villa LL, Lazcano-Ponce E, Giuliano AR

Author

Alan Nyitray PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Brazil
Cohort Studies
Human papillomavirus 16
Humans
Male
Mexico
Middle Aged
Mouth
Mouth Diseases
Oropharyngeal Neoplasms
Papillomavirus Infections
Prevalence
Risk Factors
Smoking
United States
Young Adult