Oral Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection Risk Increased by Three Daily Cigarettes

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Boomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, have found that cigarette smokers are more likely to be positive for human papillomavirus (HPV)-16 compared with non-smokers.

Specifically, people who smoke at least three cigarettes per day have a 31% increased risk of HPV infection due to elevated levels of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine. For the study, researchers identified 6,887 adults aged 18 to 59 who had been tested for HPV infection between 2009 and 2012. Researchers also analyzed recent nicotine use and blood and urine samples from the participants.

They found that approximately 2% of tobacco-users were infected with HPV, while less than 1% of former tobacco users and non-smokers had an HPV-16 infection.

The researchers note that infection with oral HPV-16 does not definitely mean a person will develop cancer, and the association between HPV-16 and tobacco smoking was only correlative. Because HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted infection and studies have shown smokers tend to participate in riskier sexual practices compared with non-smokers, sexual behavior was accounted for in the study.