Hello Everyone! I have attached a research article I stumbled upon regarding cervical cancer. This data came from Atlanta, GA and focused on young African American women ages 18-24. This was very interesting findings related to sexual abuse and it's association with increasing the risk of HPV. While these young women do not have HIV they are at an increased risk. I am within the age and demographics for this study do I found it very interesting. I hope you do too!
Background
Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Noticeably absent from the known risk factors for HPV infection is history of sexual abuse. The present study examined the association between sexual abuse and incident high-risk HPV among young adult African-American women.
The prevalence of high-risk HPV was 38.9%. Age-stratified multiple regression analyses examined sexual abuse that occurred over the 12 month follow-up and acquisition of high-risk HPV; known risk factors for HPV were entered as covariates. Women 18–24 with a history of sexual abuse in the past year, relative to participants without a history, were 4.5 times more likely to test positive for an incident high-risk HPV infection (P < .007). This relationship was not significant for the overall sample or for women 25–29.
This is among the first studies to demonstrate an association between recent experience of sexual abuse and infection with high-risk HPV among young women 18–24 years of age. Specifically, this study indicated that women who experienced a history of sexual abuse in the past 12 months had a four-and-a half fold increase in high-risk HPV incidence at the 12-month follow-up. Moreover, the association between history of sexual abuse and high-risk HPV infection persisted after adjusting for traditional HPV risk factors.
The prevalence of high-risk HPV in this study corroborates findings observed in other studies.19 The current study suggests that health care providers should routinely screen young adults for a history of sexual abuse, and those identified with this experience should be tested for HPV. Furthermore, young adult women reporting a history of abuse should be referred for appropriate counseling. Given the greater vulnerability of African-American women for high-risk HPV acquisition,13,19 the considerable prevalence of sexual abuse in the population,20 and the association observed between sexual abuse and HPV acquisition, HPV vaccination recommendations for African-American women 18–24 years of age warrant special consideration.
African-American women in this age group could benefit greatly from HPV vaccination. However, if African-American women are uninsured or their health insurance does not include coverage for vaccines, and they cannot afford the vaccine, existing racial disparities could worsen. What is needed is a health policy that provides for unfettered access to these medical advances. Together, advances in medical technology, such as the advent of efficacious vaccines (e.g., HPV), and health policy that provides for unfettered access to these medical advances, can effectively reduce health disparities among women.
The study has several limitations. First, the measure used to asses the primary exposure, recent sexual abuse, was crude and did not assess the frequency and severity of sexual abuse. The present study examined cross-sectional analyses; therefore, the causal and temporal associations between recent sexual abuse and incident high-risk HPV infection cannot be assessed. Additionally, this study was limited to African-American women, 18–29 years of age. Subsequent studies should assess the observed relationship among non-African-American women and with younger samples.
Sex Transm Dis. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 December 1.Published in final edited form as: Sex Transm Dis. 2009 December; 36(12): 784- 786.doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0b013e3181b3567e
Gina M. Wingood, Puja Seth, Ralph J. DiClemente, LaShun Simpson Robinson
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