Associations between human papillomavirus and history of cancer among U.S. adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003–2010)

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an infectious agent that has been associated with human cancer. We have updated the U.S. population sero-prevalence using a large National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) sample of adults from 2003 to 2010, and have analysed the associations between HPV seropositivity and self-reported history of cancer. METHODS: Four cross-sectional cycles (2003–2004, 2005–2006, 2007–2008, and 2009–2010) were used, for a total of 12 759 participants who had both cancer history and HPV serum information. RESULTS: The sero-prevalences of HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 were 15.0%, 4.8%, 11.5%, and 4.1%, respectively. Females had significantly higher HPV prevalence than males (P<0.05) for all subtypes. Positive associations between HPV 16/18 seropositivity and lifetime history of any cancer (adjusted odds ratio-OR(adj)=1.68; 95% CI: 1.35, 2.01), history of any of eight selected cancers (OR(adj)=2.63; 95% CI: 1.78, 3.90), lung cancer (OR(adj)=5.14; 95% CI: 1.29, 20.44), and cervical cancer (OR(adj)=2.55; 95% CI: 1.63, 3.98) were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The finding of significant associations between HPV 16/18 seropositivity and lifetime history of cancer adds epidemiological evidence to the carcinogenicity potential of HPV 16 and 18 in other tissues. With increasing coverage of the HPV vaccine in the U.S., future NHANES data and sample collection may allow further detailed evaluation of the population impact of the HPV vaccination on cancer prevention.