A new study presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session has detailed a link between heart disease and a virus that could be transmitted by a common intimate activity.
The study, led by Stephen Akinfenwa, MD, an internal medicine resident at UConn School of Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, sought to offer more insights on recent evidence which suggests human papillomavirus (HPV) may increase the risk of cardiovascular issues.
HPV is a common infection that typically does not result in any symptoms, though some variations can cause warts, and others can cause abnormal cells to develop and go on to cause cancer.
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Amid the emergence of evidence that HPV is linked with heart disease, the authors of the new study pooled data from several global studies, totaling nearly 250,000 patients. Commenting on the findings, Akinfenwa said: "Our study shows that clearly there is an association of some kind between HPV and cardiovascular disease. The biological mechanism has not been determined but is hypothesized to be related to chronic inflammation. We would ultimately like to see if reducing HPV via vaccination could reduce cardiovascular risk."
Many children and teenagers are protected from cancers caused by HPV, with a vaccine recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, many US adults have not been vaccinated because they were already past the recommended age to receive it when the vaccine became available in 2006.
Even with the vaccine, it doesn't stop people from contracting the infection.
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HPV is commonly spread through the simple, intimate act of sex, and the World Health Organization explains that almost all sexually active people will be infected at some point in their lives, usually without symptoms.
The infection can affect the skin, genital area, and throat, and while condoms can help prevent the infection, they don't offer complete protection because they do not cover all of the genital skin.
To explore the potential link between HPV and heart disease, coronary artery disease, and high blood pressure, the researchers used several statistical approaches to extract data from the pooled study cohorts, some of which adjusted for potential confounding variables such as smoking, diabetes and other factors known to be a risk in heart disease.
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The findings of the study revealed that patients with HPV had a 40 percent higher likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, and twice the risk of developing coronary artery disease compared with HPV-negative patients.
A link between HPV and cadiovascular disease remained even after the researchers adjusted for variables such as medical history and lifestyle behaviors, though there was no statistically significant association found with high blood pressure.
Akinfenwa said: "We always talk about cardiovascular risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure and so on, but we know that about 20 percent of cardiovascular disease cannot be explained by these conventional risk factors. This makes it important to identify non-conventional risk factors like HPV that could potentially be targeted."
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The lead author has now recommended that clinicians could consider closer heart monitoring for people who test positive for HPV.
Topics: Health, Life, Sex and Relationships
Emily Brown