The association between human papillomavirus infection and female lung cancer: A population-based cohort study

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among Taiwanese women. Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been detected in lung cancer tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between HPV infection and lung cancer among the Taiwanese women. The analytical data were collected from the longitudinal health insurance databases (LHID 2005 and 2010) of the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). The study participants were 30 years and older and included 24,162 individuals who were identified with HPV infection from 2001 to 2004 and 1,026,986 uninfected individuals. Lung cancer incidence among infected and uninfected individuals was compared using the univariate and multivariate regression models. Among the total participants, 24,162 individuals were diagnosed with HPV. After adjusting for age, gender, low income, residential area, and comorbidity, the risk of lung cancer was higher in women (hazard ratio [HR] 1.263, 95% CI 1.015–1.571), while all cancer risks were high in both men and women with corresponding hazard ratios (HR) of 1.161 (95% CI 1.083–1.245) and HR 1.240 (95% CI 1.154–1.331), respectively. This study showed a significant increase in lung cancer risk among Taiwanese women who were exposed to HPV infection.