Smoking,alcohol, sexual behaviour and drug use in women with cervical human papillomavirus infection

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine if smoking is associated with cervical human papillomavirus infection (CHPI) independent of sexual risk factors. Setting: Two family planning clinics and one youth clinic in Sweden. Subjects: Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA was found in cervical samples of 66 (6.8%) of 972 women attending for contraceptive advice, using Southern blot tests. Results: Among women with cervical human papillomavirus infection (CHPI), 33 (50%) were smokers, as compared to 307 (33.9%) among a comparison group of HPV-negative women (odds ratio = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.2–3.2). After stepwise adjustment for number of lifetime partners, number of partners last six months, age at first intercourse, alcohol use, drug abuse and history of or current sexually transmitted disease other than CHPI, the odds ratio decreased to 1.4 (95% CI = 0.8–2.4). Recent use of alcohol and ever use of narcotics were also significantly correlated to CHPI in crude analyses, but vanished in multifactorial analyses after adjustment for the mentioned sexual risk behavioral factors. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that smoking, alcohol and drug abuse are risk markers, but not causal factors, for CHPI. Correspondence to: D. Hellberg