Sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behaviour and knowledge about cervical cancer prevention as risk factors for high-risk human papillomavirus infection in Arkhangelsk, North-West Russia

ABSTRACT

While sociodemographic predictors of cervical cancer (CC) are well understood, predictors of high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) infection have not been fully elucidated. This study explored the HR-HPV infection positivity in relation to sociodemographic, sexual behavior characteristics and knowledge about HPV and CC prevention among women who visited the Arkhangelsk clinical maternity hospital named after Samoylova, Russia. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Arkhangelsk, Northwest Russia. Women who consulted a gynecologist for any reason between 1 January 2015 and 30 April 2015 were residents of Arkhangelsk, 25–65 years of age were included. The Mann–Whitney and Pearson’s χ² tests were used. To determine the HR-HPV status, we used the Amplisens HPV-DNA test. We used a questionnaire to collect the information on sociodemographic factors. Logistic regression was applied. The prevalence of HR-HPV infection was 16.7% (n = 50). HR-HPV infection was more prevalent in younger women, cohabiting, nulliparae, smokers, having had over three sexual partners and early age of sexual debut. The odds of having a positive HR-HPV status increased by 25% with an annual decrease in the age of sexual debut. Moreover women with one child or more were less likely to have positive HR-HPV status.

KEYWORDS:

• HPV infection
• prevalence
• risk factors
• sexual behaviour
• questionnaire
• Russia

Disclosure statement

ER designed the study, collected the data, created the database, carried out the statistical analyses, participated in the sequence alignment and drafted the manuscript. ES assisted in the statistical analyses and critically revised the manuscript. OK assisted in the statistical analyses. EN and VP participated in the drafting/editing of the manuscript. JOO conceived and coordinated the study, participated in its design and in the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Availability of supporting data

According to the Russian Federal Law №152 from 27th of July 2006 “Personal data” “cross-border data transfer may be prohibited or restricted in order to protect constitutional rights of the Russian citizens”.

However, it allows attaching the dataset from corresponding author on the basis of properly submitted requests.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.