Young women, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and human papillomavirus: risk factors for persistence and recurrence

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in young women. They can occur in one or multiple areas of the female genitalia. Usually, the vulva is the initial site of implantation for HPV. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the epidemiological aspects, incidence of single or multiple lesions in the lower genital tract, correlation between sexual behaviour and their localization and behaviour risk factors for persistence and recurrence of HPV lesions and cervical intraepithelial lesion (CIN) in a long-term follow-up among young women. We recruited 268 patients aged 11-21 years who previously had cytology and/or physical examination suspicious for HPV infection. The women were interviewed and asked information about lifestyle, sexual behaviour, work, personal or family history of genital warts and school attendance. We considered individuals to be 'smokers' if they smoked more than five cigarettes/day. No specific data were recorded about oral contraception, nevertheless, no woman had used oral contraceptives (OCs) for more than 2 years. Young women included in the study were between the age of 12 and 21 years who had HVP lesions after entry examinations and had undergone no treatment for HPV lesions prior to entry. Other exclusion criteria relevant to this study included cervical excisional treatment prior to entry or later. Two hundred and thirty-four young women were included in our study group. Our diagnostic schedule for a complete evaluation included exo- and endocervical cytology, colposcopy, directed biopsy and microcolpohysteroscopy. The treatment was performed with a LASER CO2 Coherent 400, model 451, with Zeiss photocolposcopy attachment. The finding that, among 126/234 (53.8%) adolescents using contraceptives, only 85 (36.3%) have used condom, the only barrier form of contraceptive effectively protecting against virus, shows a low awareness of the high risk for contracting HPV infection among young sexually active women. The sites most frequently affected in our study were vulva, perianus and perineum (194/234), 82.9% and the cervix (125/234), 53.4%. Vaginal lesions were detected only in 29/234 patients (12.3%). According to our data, in 161 patients, sexual habits, age at the first intercourse (P=0.68), frequency of intercourses (P=0.49) and number of lifetime partners (P=0.27) as well as age (P=0.26) play a role in transmission and incidence of HPV infection but not on the location of the lesions. This can be due to a coexistent clinical and subclinical multiple infection as well as a transmission via intercourse or from other sources, including tampons. Abnormal Pap test was related to HPV infection, but the low correlation with colposcopic and histological findings in this study justify the support of other examinations such as colposcopy and punch biopsy for diagnosis. Moreover, according to our data, cytology alone shows to be not suitable to exclude CIN (seven underestimated cases of CIN) and a closer correspondence were found between colposcopy and the result of histological sample after punch biopsy in CIN detection. More attention must be paid to psychological aspect of diagnoses and treatment among adolescents, more than older women as the high rate of patients lost shows in our study: 75/234 (32.05%) before LASER surgery and 55/159 (34.59%) during follow-up. International data shows that only 12-45% of sexually active adolescent girls have obtained Pap smear screening. In our study, we found no correlation between treatment failure and cigarette smoking or between the use of oral contraceptives and persistence/recurrence after LASER CO2 surgery. Because the small sample of our study group, further analyses were required.