Introduction: Kidney transplant recipients are at higher risk for viral infection-related cancers. Even though HPV infection is strongly associated with several genital cancers, data on its prevalence among women with renal allografts are few and controversial. Such information is necessary to develop policies aimed at preventing both new malignancies among the patients and the infection dissemination.

Objective: Assess the prevalence of HPV infection in women with renal allografts.

Material and methods:Cross-sectional study. Women were recruited from the cohort of patients transplanted at the institution until May 2012. Data on socio-demographic and clinical variables, including risk factors for HPV infection, were collected through a face to face interview utilizing a validated questionnaire. Patients fulfilling the selection criteria underwent gynaecological examination and colposcopy. Samples for cervical cytology study and low/high risk HPV detections (hybrid capture technique) were also obtained. Multivariate logistic regression was used to control for potentially confounding factors and to calculate odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals. Statistical significance set at an alpha level of ≤0.05.

Results: 193 women have been interviewed, 154 (79.8%) met the elegibility criteria and 94 have been tested for HPV. The main demographic and clinical characteristics were (mean ± SD, or %): age 42.7±12.1 year, at chronic renal failure diagnosis 30 ±11.6, at the first kidney transplant 35.7±12.8, at first intercourse 21.1± 4.6, time since first transplant 7.3±7.0. Current or past smoking 28.7%, ≥2 lifetime sexual partners 42%, double and triple immunosuppressive regimen: 21 and 79%, respectively. The prevalence of any HPV was 43.6%, corresponding 25.5% to high risk types, alone or with low risk viruses. In addition, there was 18% of samples infected with low risk viruses. Multivariate analysis showed that the mean independent risk factor associated to HPV infection adjusted for age, age at first intercourse, smoking and immunosuppressive therapy, was the lifetime ≥2 sexual partners with OR 2.8, CI 95% 1.1-7.32.

Conclusions: The prevalence of HPV infection among women with renal allografts is higher than that reported for the general population in the country. Noteworthy is the apparent persistence of the infection throughout the reproductive period.

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