Sexual behaviours and the risk of head and neck cancers: a pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Sexual contact may be the means by which head and neck cancer patients are exposed to human papillomavirus (HPV). METHODS: We undertook a pooled analysis of four population-based and four hospital-based case-control studies from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium, with participants from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, India, Italy, Spain, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia and the USA. The study included 5642 head and neck cancer cases and 6069 controls. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) of associations between cancer and specific sexual behaviours, including practice of oral sex, number of lifetime sexual partners and oral sex partners, age at sexual debut, a history of same-sex contact and a history of oral-anal contact. Findings were stratified by sex and disease subsite. RESULTS: Cancer of the oropharynx was associated with having a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners [OR = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01, 1.54] and four or more lifetime oral sex partners (OR = 2.25, 95% CI 1.42, 3.58). Cancer of the tonsil was associated with four or more lifetime oral sex partners (OR = 3.36, 95 % CI 1.32, 8.53), and, among men, with ever having oral sex (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.09, 2.33) and with an earlier age at sexual debut (OR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.37, 5.05). Cancer of the base of the tongue was associated with ever having oral sex among women (OR = 4.32, 95% CI 1.06, 17.6), having two sexual partners in comparison with only one (OR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.19, 3.46) and, among men, with a history of same-sex sexual contact (OR = 8.89, 95% CI 2.14, 36.8). CONCLUSIONS: Sexual behaviours are associated with cancer risk at the head and neck cancer subsites that have previously been associated with HPV infection.
DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyp350
Authors: Julia E Heck, Julien Berthiller, Salvatore Vaccarella, Deborah M Winn, Elaine M Smith, Oxana Shan'gina, Stephen M Schwartz, Mark P Purdue, Agnieszka Pilarska, Jose Eluf-Neto, Ana Menezes, Michael D McClean, Elena Matos, Sergio Koifman, Karl T Kelsey, Rolando Herrero, Richard B Hayes, Silvia Franceschi, Victor Wünsch-Filho, Leticia Fernández, Alexander W Daudt, Maria Paula Curado, Chu Chen, Xavier Castellsagué, Gilles Ferro, Paul Brennan, Paolo Boffetta, Mia Hashibe
Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, Centre international de recherche sur le cancer, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Hospices Civils de Lyon, National Cancer Institute, University of Iowa, Russian Cancer Research Center NN Blokhin, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Medical University of Warsaw, Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Boston University, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Brown University, New York University, Instituto de Oncología y Radiobiología, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge, Institut Català d'Oncologia, International Prevention Research Institute, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, University of Utah
Language: English
Topic: Head and Neck Cancer Studies
Subfield: Otorhinolaryngology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: UCLA Career Development Program in Cancer Prevention and Control Research, G4583570865, GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY AND MECHANISMS IN ORAL CANCER, HPV AND RISK OF ORAL CANCER IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, Patterns of Somatic Gene Alterations in Oral Cancer, ORAL CANCER--DNA POLYMORPHISMS IN CARCINOGEN METABOLISM, HPV TRANSMISSION AND RISK OF ORAL CANCER, International Head and Neck Cancer Consortium, The Boston Collaborative Oral Cancer Study
OpenAlex ID: W2118975989