title: Sexual behavior and HPV infection in British women, by postal questionnaires and telephone interviews.
abstract: Sexually transmitted human papillomaviruses (HPVs), most frequently HPV 16, are the primary cause of cervical carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sexual behavior and prevalence and acquisition of HPV infection among British women attending regular cervical screening who responded to postal questionnaires and/or telephone interviews. A total of 1,880 women who had been tested for HPV in the ARTISTIC (A Randomized Trial In Screening To Improve Cytology) trial were randomized to three methods of data collection: group 1 (questionnaire including sexual history, no interview), group 2 (questionnaire excluding sexual history, short interview including sexual history), and group 3 (questionnaire and long interview including sexual history in both). Questions on sexual history included age at first sexual intercourse, sexually transmitted diseases, lifetime (total and regular) sexual partners, and number of partners in the last 5 years (total and new). Demographics, reproductive, cervical screening, and smoking history were also collected in questionnaires. The overall participation rate was 35%. There was good agreement (87.4-95.5%) on sexual behavior answers in questionnaires and interviews in women in group 3 and no significant differences between data obtained by questionnaire or interview. Odds ratios (OR) for both HPV prevalence and acquisition increased consistently with increasing numbers of lifetime sexual partners, regular partners, and new partners in the last 5 years (recent partners). No significant association was found for other characteristics investigated. The effect of recent sexual partners on HPV acquisition (OR for 2+ recent partners: 4.4, 95% CI: 1.7-11.2) was stronger than that of earlier (> 5 years ago) partners (OR for 2+ earlier partners: 2.2, 95% CI: 0.7-6.7) suggesting that most incident HPV infections are newly acquired rather than recurrent.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Mathematics & Statistics, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. m.almonte@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Almonte
authors.forename: Isabel Dos Santos
authors.initials: Idos S
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Akua
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asare
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gilham
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sargent
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: Henry C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kitchener
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012747:Sexual Partners; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral