The Impact of Specific Sexually Transmitted Pathogens on Cervix: A Prospective Study Based on Cervical Cancer...

Previous studies showed the association between sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and cervical lesions remains ambiguous. This study was conducted among 8371 women from a screening cohort. Seven specific sexually transmitted pathogens (STPs), including one viral [high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV), low-risk HPV (lrHPV)], five bacterial [Ureaplasma parvum (UP), Mycoplasma hominis (MH), Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG)], and one parasitic [Trichomonas vaginalis (TV)] pathogen, were tested by Next Generation Sequencing assay using well-stored baseline samples. Odds ratios (ORs) for incident cervical lesions with different STPs were calculated by Logistic Regression analysis. Within 3-year follow-up, 133 and 72 participants were diagnosed with histopathological cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 (CIN1) and CIN2+, respectively. The adjusted ORs (aORs) of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or worse (ASC-US+) for women with hrHPV, lrHPV, UP, MH, TV, CT, and MG infections were 2.62 (95% CI: 2.19-3.13), 1.94 (95% CI: 1.55-2.43), 1.48 (95% CI: 1.26-1.74), 1.47 (95% CI: 1.25-1.73), 1.65 (95% CI: 1.27-2.15), 1.26 (95% CI: 0.79-2.01) and 2.33 (95% CI: 1.41-3.85), respectively. The aORs of cytological high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) for women with hrHPV, TV, and MG infections were 13.01 (95% CI: 5.78-29.31), 3.48 (95% CI: 1.38-8.75), and 5.87 (95% CI: 1.58-21.77). The aORs of CIN1 for hrHPV, lrHPV, and MH were 6.88(95% CI: 4.79-9.90), 2.04(95% CI: 1.29-3.14), and 1.47(95% CI: 1.02-2.11). The aOR of CIN2+ for women with hrHPV infection was 17.56 (95% CI: 10.31-29.92), no significance was observed for CIN2+ with non-hrHPV STIs. Specific STP infections were significantly associated with subsequent cervical cytological ASC-US+ (hrHPV, lrHPV, UP, MH, TV, and MG) and HSIL (hrHPV, TV, and MG). Infection with lrHPV and MH could increase the CIN1 risk in future though no obvious CIN2+ risk elevation was observed.