The association of current hormonal contraceptive use with type-specific HPV detection.

BACKGROUND

Increased duration of hormonal contraceptive (HC) use may be positively associated with the risk of invasive cervical cancer.

METHODS

This is a secondary analysis from the HPV Sentinel Surveillance Study. The authors examined the association between type-specific human papillomavirus (HPV) detection and current HC use among 7718 women attending 26 sexually transmitted disease, family planning and primary care clinics in the USA.

RESULTS

There was an association between HC use and HPV-16 detection (adjusted prevalence rate ratio 1.34 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.71) for oral contraceptive users and 1.41 (1.01 to 2.04) for depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate users); there was no association between HC use and detection of other HPV types or any HPV overall.

CONCLUSIONS

Longitudinal studies are needed to better define this type-specific association and its clinical significance.