Risk factors associated with genital warts in HIV-positive Brazilian women

In Brazil, the female population has been increasingly infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and uterine cervix carcinoma now represents the second highest cause of mortality. Although HIV infection among women is associated with an increased prevalence of cervical cancer precursors, the co-infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is considered to be a necessary but not sufficient factor to induce genital lesions. This study was conducted to identify risk factors associated with the history of genital warts among HIV-positive women.

A comparative cross-sectional evaluation was applied to 141 HIV-positive women. All patients were submitted to colposcopy, smear cytology, directed biopsy, and HPV-DNA detection. The chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and the odds ratio (OR, 95%; confidence interval, CI) were used to evaluate associations between history of genital warts and risk factors.

A history of genital warts presented associations with: a) age at first sexual intercourse < or = 17 years (OR, 0.42; CI, 0.16-1.11); b) history of genital warts in sex partners (OR, 11.39; CI, 4.21-30.76), especially with recurrent episodes (OR, 6.60; CI, 2.69-16.12); c) drug addiction (OR, 2.38; CI, 1.09-5.19), especially in crack users (OR, 5.34; CI, 1.64-17.41); d) cervical HPV infection (OR, 2.75; CI 1.09-6.90); e) cervical infection caused by only one HPV type (OR, 2.77; CI 1.06-7.20); f) perianal HPV infection (OR, 2.30; CI, 0.70-7.56), associated with negative results for undetermined risk HPV (OR, 8.41; P = 0.04); and g) no antiretroviral therapy (OR, 3.41; P = 0.07).

Evaluation of behavioral risk factors associated with a genital wart history is an important tool to prevent and reduce persistent HPV infection, and consequently genital cancer precursors in HIV infected women.