The role of circumcision, tobacco, and alcohol use in genital human papillomavirus infection among men from Denmark

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It is crucial to understand the natural history of genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in men to prevent the increasing male HPV-related disease burden. We evaluated the associations between HPV infection and circumcision, smoking, and alcohol use after accounting for sexual behavior. The study included 2331 male personnel from Danish barracks. Penile swabs were tested for HPV DNA with a polymerase chain reaction assay, INNO-LiPA. All men completed a self-administered questionnaire providing data on potential risk factors for HPV such as lifestyle and sexual habits. Using multivariable logistic regression, associations between potential risk factors and HPV infection were estimated and expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Current cigarette smoking was associated with increased odds of HPV detection (OR = 1.2; 95% CI: 1.0–1.4), but we found no association with alcohol use in the analysis adjusted for sexual behavior. Circumcision reduced the odds of a prevalent HPV infection (OR = 0.7; 95% CI: 0.5–1.0) although not statistically significantly. Strong associations with lifetime and recent number of female sex partners were observed, but in contrast to uncircumcised men, increasing number of sex partners was not associated with higher HPV prevalence in circumcised men. In conclusion, smoking was associated with increased odds of penile HPV in men from the general population in Denmark, whereas circumcision seemed to reduce the risk. Moreover, our results indicated that there might be differences in the viral susceptibility between circumcised and uncircumcised men.

Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of STD and AIDS
Volume32
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)1028-1035
ISSN0956-4624
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Susanne Krüger Kjær has received lecture fees, advisory board fees, and unrestricted research grants through her institution from Merck and Sanofi Pasteur MSD. Thomas Iftner has received lecture fees and research grants through his institution from Hologic GmbH and Roche Diagnostics GmbH. Julie Buchholt Hebnes, Christian Munk, Kirsten Frederiksen, and Hans Ole Jørgensen all have nothing to disclose.

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by Merck.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

    Research areas

  • circumcision, Human papillomavirus, population-based, risk factors

ID: 301818238