A Survey On prevalence, Risk Factors and Knowledge for Oral Human Papillomavirus Infections Among University Students

Abstract

Aim: This study analyses the prevalence, risk factors and knowledge levels for oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in healthy university students. Materials & methods: A questionnaire was distributed to 452 participants. Also, oral-rinsed samples were collected for molecular screening and genotyping studies by using validated protocols. Results: The prevalence of HPV was 0.7% (HPV type 72var [0.5%; n = 2] and HPV type 13 [0.2%; n = 1]). Male circumcision and age of first sexual experience were the significant factors associated with oral HPV positivity. Several factors found to be predictors for HPV positivity including not being vaccinated. Conclusion: Here, the prevalence of oral HPV infection was low among a healthy sample pool. Further studies are suggested to clarify relations between the infection and risk factors.

Keywords:

• HPV
• oropharyngeal cancer
• predictor
• risk factor

Author contributions

M Güran, G Şanlıtürk, DK Demirdöv, PI Neophytou and C Gürkan have contributed to the writing or review of the manuscript, study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by G Şanlıtürk, DK Demirdöv, M Al-sharakhi, Y Hikal, M Haidar, KS Kunt and H Selevany. The first draft of the manuscript was written by M Güran. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank to MYM Al-Ahmad for his involvement in the data collection and Nİ Akçay for her involvement in the biostatistical analysis of this study. The data presented in this manuscript were collected by an undergraduate student group through Introduction to Clinical Skills-3 Research program of Eastern Mediterranean University, Dr. Fazıl Küçük faculty of Medicine. A part of this study was presented at the FEMS Online Conference on Microbiology 2020, 28–31 October 2020.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Availability of data & material

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Ethical conduct of research

Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Health Sub-committee of the Eastern Mediterranean University’s Research and Publication Ethics Board with the decision number ‘2018/61-10’ and written informed consent was requested from participants before filling out the questionnaires.