title: Marijuana use is not associated with cervical human papillomavirus natural history or cervical neoplasia in HIV-seropositive or HIV-seronegative women.
abstract: Marijuana use was recently reported to have a positive cross-sectional association with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related head and neck cancer. Laboratory data suggest that marijuana could have an immunomodulatory effect. Little is known, however, regarding the effects of marijuana use on cervical HPV or neoplasia. Therefore, we studied the natural history (i.e., prevalence, incident detection, clearance/persistence) of cervical HPV and cervical neoplasia (i.e., squamous intraepithelial lesions; SIL) in a large prospective cohort of 2,584 HIV-seropositive and 915 HIV-seronegative women. Marijuana use was classified as ever/never, current/not current, and by frequency and duration of use. No positive associations were observed between use of marijuana, and either cervical HPV infection or SIL. The findings were similar among HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative women, and in tobacco smokers and nonsmokers. These data suggest that marijuana use does not increase the burden of cervical HPV infection or SIL.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. gdsouza@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: Gypsyamber
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Souza
authors.forename: Joel M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Palefsky
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minkoff
authors.forename: L Stewart
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Massad
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anastos
authors.forename: Alexandra M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moxley
authors.forename: Xiao N
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Burk
authors.forename: Howard D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Strickler
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology