A meta-analysis of the relationship between vaginal microecology, human papillomavirus infection and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

Microecology is an emerging discipline in recent years. The female reproductive tract is an important microecological region, and its microecological environment can directly affect women’s cervical health. This meta-analysis aimed to analyze the effects of vaginal microecology on Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). PubMed and Web of Science were systematically searched for eligible publications from January 2000 to December 2017. Articles were selected on the basis of specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. The design and quality of all studies were evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Odds ratios (ORs) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated. Thirteen eligible studies were selected to evaluate the association of vaginal microecology with HPV infection and CIN. The factors related to HPV infection were bacterial vaginosis (BV) (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.78–3.71, P<0.05), Candida albicans (VVC) (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.49–0.82, P < 0.05), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) (OR 3.16, 95% CI 2.55–3.90, P < 0.05), and Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.20–1.51, P < 0.05). BV was also related to CIN (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.21–2.00, P < 0.05). This meta-analysis of available literature suggested an intimate association of vaginal microecology and HPV infection with CIN. BV, CT and UU were associated to increased HPV infection, VVC was associated to decreased HPV infection, Lactobacillus is not associated to increased HPV infection, BV was associated to increased CIN development risk. Further large-scale studies are needed to confirm our findings.