Association between smoking and size of anal warts in HIV-infected women

Abstract

While the association between smoking and human papillomavirus infection, cervical cancer, and anal cancer has been well studied, evidence on the association between cigarette smoking and anal warts is limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate if cigarette smoking status influences the size of anal warts over time in HIV-infected women in a sample of 976 HIV-infected women from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). A linear mixed model was used to determine the effect of smoking on anal wart size. Even though women who were currently smokers had larger anal warts at baseline and slower growth rate of anal wart size after each visit than women who were not current smokers, there was no association between size of anal wart and current smoking status over time. Further studies on the role of smoking and interaction between smoking and other risk factors, however, should be explored.