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. 2018 Jan 15;18(1):41.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-018-2954-7.

Self-reported genital warts among sexually-active university students: a cross-sectional study

Silvia Cocchio  1 , Chiara Bertoncello  1 , Tatjana Baldovin  1 , Alessandra Buja  1 , Silvia Majori  2 , Vincenzo Baldo  3
Affiliations

Self-reported genital warts among sexually-active university students: a cross-sectional study

Silvia Cocchio et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Genital warts are one of the most common forms of sexually-transmitted disease, but their epidemiology has yet to be thoroughly elucidated. The present study was designed to shed light on the prevalence of clinically-confirmed, self-reported genital warts (GWs) in a representative sample of the university population.

Methods: In 2015, a cross-sectional survey was conducted on 11,096 individuals approached at the Students Information Bureau where they came to enroll for a university degree course. Participants completed an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire providing information on their sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behavior, and any history of clinically-diagnosed genital warts. Multivariate logistic regression was then used to identify any factors associated with the disease.

Results: Our analysis was conducted on 9259 questionnaires (83.4%). Participants were a mean 21.8 ± 4.8 years of age, and 59.6% were female. Overall, 124 individuals (1.3%, 95%CI: 1.0-1.6) reported having been diagnosed with genital warts: 48 men (1.3%, 95%CI: 0.9-1.6), and 76 women (1.4% 95%CI: 1.1-1.7). Overall, 22.5% of the sample were vaccinated (1.3% of the males and 36.8% of the females). The group of respondents aged 30 years or more had the highest incidence of genital warts (males: 5.6%, 95%CI: 2.5-8.6; females: 6.9%, 95%CI: 3.4-10.4). The independent risk factors associated with a history of disease were (for both genders) a history of other sexually-transmitted diseases, and ≥2 sex partners in the previous 24 months. A protective role emerged for routine condom use. Additional risk factors associated with genital warts in males concerned men who have sex with men, bisexuality vis-à-vis heterosexuality, and smoking.

Conclusions: The findings emerging from our study help to further clarify the epidemiology of genital warts in young people, and may be useful to public health decision-makers. This study showed that genital warts occur in men as well as women, and suggests that both genders should be monitored for this disease to ascertain the effects of the free HPV vaccination offered to all girls in the Veneto in their 12th year of life since 2008, and to all boys of the same age since 2015.

Keywords: Genital warts; Human papillomavirus; Sexually-transmitted diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Data were treated with full confidentiality in accordance with Italian legislation. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. To ensure anonymous nature of the data the informed consents were collected separately from questionarie. This study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and the study protocol was approved by the ethical committee of the Padua Provincial Authority (date of approval 7/30/2015).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

VB received grants for taking part on advisory boards and at expert meetings, and for acting as speaker and/or organizer of meetings/congresses. The other authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Lifetime incidence rate of self-reported genital warts by gender and age group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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