Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with prevalence, incidence, and clearance of vaginal HPV infection in young women

Abstract

Abstract Background We assessed the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and genital human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence, incidence, and clearance among female participants of the HITCH cohort study. Methods We genotyped HPV DNA in vaginal samples and quantified baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels using Roche’s Linear Array and Total vitamin D assay, respectively. We used logistic and Cox proportional hazards models to respectively estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and hazards ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results There was no association between vitamin D levels (every 10ng/mL increase) at baseline and HPV prevalence (OR=0.88, CI:0.73-1.03) or incidence (HR=0.88, CI:0.73-1.06), but we observed a modest negative association with HPV clearance (HR=0.76, CI:0.60-0.96). Vitamin D levels <30ng/mL, compared to ≥30ng/mL, were not associated with HPV prevalence (OR=0.98, CI:0.57-1.69) or incidence (HR=0.87, CI:0.50-1.43), but were associated with a marginally significant increased clearance (OR=2.14, CI:0.99-4.64). We observed consistent results with restricted cubic spline modelling of vitamin D levels and clinically defined categories. HPV type-specific analyses accounting for multiple HPV infections per participant showed no association between vitamin D levels and all study outcomes. Conclusion This study provided no evidence of an association between low vitamin D levels and increased HPV prevalence, acquisition, or clearance.