Background: The increasing incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is linked to oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. Despite recent dramatic increase in OPSCC in younger Australians, there is little published data on oral HPV prevalence in Australia.
Aim: To investigate the natural history of oral HPV infection in a Brisbane sample.
Methods: We recruited 627 participants aged 20 to 70 years in Greater Brisbane from June 2014 to November 2016. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about basic demographics, life-style factors, medical history and sexual behaviour. Saliva samples were collected with a commercial saliva collection kit (DNA Genotek) from all participants for HPV testing and typing.
Results: 73 of the 627 baseline saliva samples (11.6%) tested positive for oral HPV. Among the HPV-positive samples, HPV-33 was the most prevalent HPV type, followed by HPV-16. Compared to oral HPV-negative participants, participants infected with oral HPV reported a higher number of lifetime partners for passionate kissing (p=0.001), giving and receiving oral sex to more partners in a lifetime (p=0.016 and 0.002, respectively), more lifetime sexual intercourse partners (p=0.013), previously being diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (p=0.001) and wearing mouth jewellery (p=0.04). We found no associations with oral HPV status and gender, age, smoking, alcohol consumption, illicit drugs use, or preferred gender(s) of sex partners. Past history of a previous abnormal Pap smear result was not associated with oral HPV infection in women.
Conclusion: We found strong associations between multiple sexual partners and oral HPV infection.