Affiliation:
1. Department of Otolaryngology Medical University of South Carolina Charleston South Carolina USA
2. Department of Otolaryngology Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport Louisiana USA
Abstract
AbstractBackgroundIncreased sexual activity is associated with higher human papillomavirus (HPV) rates; however, there is a lack of analysis comparing the sexual history of patients with HPV positive and HPV negative oropharyngeal cancer (OPC).MethodsIn this meta‐analysis, PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL were searched for articles that included patients with OPC and reported information regarding HPV status and either history of oral sex, number of sexual partners, or sexually transmitted infections (STI).ResultsA total of 11 studies were included with 3296 patients with OPC. Patients with HPV positive OPC were more likely than patients with HPV negative OPC to report a history of oral sex (92%, 95% CI: 87.0–97.0 vs. 74.5%, 95% CI: 50.6–98.4, p < 0.0001), higher mean number of sexual partners (18.4 partners, 95% CI: 1.5–35.4 vs. 7.2 partners, 95% CI: 1.0–13.4, p < 0.0001), and more frequent history of STI (23.7%, 95% CI: 18.4–29.0 vs. 8.8%, 95% CI: 4.7–12.8, p = 0.0001).ConclusionsCompared to patients with HPV negative OPC, our analysis shows a larger proportion of patients with HPV positive OPC had participated in oral sex, had a higher number of sexual partners, and had a higher proportion of STI history.