Transmission of Genital Human Papillomavirus Infection in Couples: a Population-based Cohort Study in Rural China

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2015 Jul 24

PMID 26204471

Citations 11

Authors

Mengfei Liu

Zhonghu He

Chanyuan Zhang

Fangfang Liu

Ying Liu

Jingjing Li

Zhongyao Xu

Qiyan Wang

Dong Hang

Na Shen

Yaqi Pan

Chuanhai Guo

Hong Cai

Yang Ke

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

HPV transmission dynamics have rarely been studied in the general population, especially in China. We followed the genital HPV infection status of both partners in 874 couples aged 25-65 years from rural China for up to 7 bi-annual visits during 2009-2013. The positive HPV concordance and transmission rate for partners in a couple were evaluated and relevant risk factors were assessed. The concordance of any, oncogenic, and non-oncogenic HPV was 15.52%, 16.18% and 10.41%, respectively. Male-to-female transmission rate was 7.11, 12.13 and 4.77/1000 person months for any, oncogenic and non-oncogenic HPV respectively. The female-to-male transmission rate was 5.56, 2.37, and 17.01/1000 person months for any, oncogenic and non-oncogenic HPV respectively. The risk of male-to-female transmission was significantly higher than that of female-to-male transmission for oncogenic types. However, for non-oncogenic types, the risk of male-to-female transmission was significantly lower than that of female-to-male transmission. Younger couples, persistent infection with HPV, higher numbers of sexual partners and higher frequency of sexual intercourse were positively associated with HPV transmission in couples. Our results indicate that men in rural China play a more important role than men in western populations as a source of cervical oncogenic HPV infection in women.

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