Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and oropharyngeal HPV in ethnically diverse, sexually active adolescents: community-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectivesOropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is the most common human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancer in the UK, but little is known about the prevalence of oropharyngeal HPV in sexually active teenagers. We investigated reported HPV vaccination coverage (in females) and prevalence of oropharyngeal HPV in sexually active students attending six technical colleges in London, UK.MethodsIn 2017, we obtained mouthwash samples and questionnaires from male and female students taking part in the ‘Test n Treat’ chlamydia screening trial. Samples were subjected to HPV genotyping.ResultsOf 232 participants approached, 202 (87%) provided a mouthwash sample and questionnaire. Participants’ median age was 17 years and 47% were male. Most (73%) were from black and minority ethnic groups, 64% gave a history of oral sex, 52% reported having a new sexual partner in the past 6 months, 33% smoked cigarettes, 5.9% had concurrent genitourinary Chlamydia trachomatis infection and 1.5% Neisseria gonorrhoeae and 5.0% were gay or bisexual. Only 47% (50/107) of females reported being vaccinated against HPV 16/18, of whom 74% had received ≥2 injections. HPV genotyping showed three mouthwash samples (1.5%, 95% CI 0.3% to 4.3%) were positive for possible high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV), one (0.5%, 0.0% to 2.7%) for low-risk HPV 6/11, but none (0.0%, 0.0% to 1.8%) for HR-HPV. Four samples (2.0%, 0.5% to 5.0%) were positive for HPV16 using a HPV16 type-specific quantitative PCR, but these were at a very low copy number and considered essentially negative.ConclusionsDespite the high prevalence of oral sex and genitourinary chlamydia and low prevalence of HPV vaccination, the prevalence of oropharyngeal HR-HPV in these adolescents was negligible.

Population-Based Analysis of Trends in Incidence and Survival of Human Papilloma Virus-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer in a Low-Burden Region of Southern Europe

“…Thus, changes in sexual practices have potentially led to the increase in incidence rates of HPV-related OPC observed in our study. In any case, more knowledge is needed on the biology of the virus, since studies to detect the presence of HPV in the oropharynx of sexually active adolescents have not correlated this behavior with the sparse presence of HPV [12].…”

Human Papillomavirus Prevalence and Associated Factors in Indigenous Women in Ecuador: A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study

“…Host factors include age, number of sexual partners, age of sexual debut, number of births and abortions, prolonged use of oral contraceptives, smoking, and genetic factors [ 8 , 12 ]. The virus-related risk factors are viral load, multiple infections, or co-infections with other viruses (such as herpes viruses and HIV) [ 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”