Human papillomavirus infection and risk of cardiovascular disease: A population-based matched cohort study with sibling analysis

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and its possible connection to cardiovascular disease (CVD) have been a subject of debate. Researchers sought to explore the relationship between HPV infection and the development of CVD, as well as CVD-related mortality in a large cohort of women. In this study, Swedish national registers were used to identify women with an incident HPV infection between 2006 and 2024.

Each infected woman was matched with five uninfected women of similar age. The study assessed the time-varying associations between HPV infection and CVD using flexible parametric models, adjusting for various factors such as sociodemographic characteristics, HPV vaccination status, chronic diseases, and parental history of related diseases.

A further analysis was conducted by comparing HPV-infected women to their full siblings to control for familial factors. The results showed that women with HPV infection had a higher risk of incident CVD and CVD-related mortality compared to those without infection. During the first year following infection, the increased risk was most pronounced, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.43 for incident CVD and 1.86 for CVD-related mortality.

However, these increased risks gradually decreased over time and returned to values similar to those observed in uninfected women by the end of the study period. The study also found positive associations between HPV infection and CVD outcomes in sibling comparisons. Although the overall findings suggest a slightly elevated CVD risk in women with HPV infection, the absolute difference is small, and women should not be overly concerned.