Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Mar 17;9(3):e91761.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091761. eCollection 2014.

Prevalence and risk factors for oral HPV infection in young Australians

Annika Antonsson  1 , Michelle Cornford  2 , Susan Perry  1 , Marcia Davis  1 , Michael P Dunne  2 , David C Whiteman  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and risk factors for oral HPV infection in young Australians

Annika Antonsson et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated head and neck cancers is increasing, but the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the wider community remains unknown. We sought to determine the prevalence of, and identify risk factors for, oral HPV infection in a sample of young, healthy Australians. For this study, we recruited 307 Australian university students (18-35 years). Participants reported anonymously about basic characteristics, sexual behaviour, and alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs use. We collected oral rinse samples from all participants for HPV testing and typing. Seven of 307 (2.3%) students tested positive for oral HPV infection (3 HPV-18, one each of HPV-16, -67, -69, -90), and six of them were males (p = 0.008). Compared to HPV negative students, those with oral HPV infection were more likely to have received oral sex from more partners in their lifetime (p = 0.0004) and in the last year (p = 0.008). We found no statistically significant associations with alcohol consumption, smoking or numbers of partners for passionate kissing or sexual intercourse. In conclusion, oral HPV infection was associated with male gender and receiving oral sex in our sample of young Australians.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

    1. Attner P, Nasman A, Du J, Hammarstedt L, Ramqvist T, et al. (2012) Survival in patients with human papillomavirus positive tonsillar cancer in relation to treatment. Int J Cancer 131: 1124–1130. - PubMed
    1. Chaturvedi AK, Engels EA, Pfeiffer RM, Hernandez BY, Xiao W, et al. (2011) Human papillomavirus and rising oropharyngeal cancer incidence in the United States. J Clin Oncol 29: 4294–4301. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nasman A, Attner P, Hammarstedt L, Du J, Eriksson M, et al. (2009) Incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV) positive tonsillar carcinoma in Stockholm, Sweden: an epidemic of viral-induced carcinoma? Int J Cancer 125: 362–366. - PubMed
    1. Gillison ML, D'Souza G, Westra W, Sugar E, Xiao W, et al. (2008) Distinct risk factor profiles for human papillomavirus type 16-positive and human papillomavirus type 16-negative head and neck cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst 100: 407–420. - PubMed
    1. Gillison ML, Koch WM, Capone RB, Spafford M, Westra WH, et al. (2000) Evidence for a causal association between human papillomavirus and a subset of head and neck cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst 92: 709–720. - PubMed

Publication types