The following is a summary of “Incidence and duration of human papillomavirus infections in young women: insights from a bimonthly follow-up cohort,” published in the November 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Bénéteau et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the duration of human papillomavirus (HPV) detection and the risk of (re-) detection for 25 HPV genotypes in women.  

They included 132 women aged 18 to 25 years at inclusion, who were monitored every 8 weeks for up to 2 years between 2016 and 2020. Half of the participants were vaccinated against HPV. The women were recruited near the University and the STI detection center in Montpellier, France. Genotype-specific longitudinal data were used to characterize the dynamics of HPV-detected episodes. The contribution of viral and host factors to the variations in the duration of HPV detection and the time before (re-)detection of the same genotype was investigated using multivariate Cox regression models with frailty at the patient level.  

The results showed that 74% of participants had at least 1 HPV episode, with 47% experiencing re-detection of the same genotype. Socio-economic difficulties were linked to a lower risk of detectability loss (hazard ratio 0.45; 95% CI 0.21 to 0.97). A higher number of lifetime sexual partners was strongly associated with an increased risk of new positive detection (hazard ratio 2.40; 95% CI 1.07 to 5.39). In contrast, vaccination was associated with a reduced risk of incident infections (hazard ratio 0.64; 95% CI 0.43 to 0.96).  

Investigators concluded the vaccination showed clear signs of protection against new HPV detections, including for some non-targeted genotypes such as HPV31 and HPV51. 

Source: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23744235.2024.2427223