Young Cancer Survivors Have Increased Risk for HPV-Linked Subsequent Cancer

FRIDAY, May 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors have an increased risk for human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated subsequent malignant neoplasms (SMNs), especially oropharyngeal-SMNs, according to a study published in the May issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Judy Y. Ou, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues identified demographic and clinical risk factors for HPV-associated SMNs (HPV-SMN) among AYA cancer survivors in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-9 registries diagnosed from 1976 to 2015. Participants started follow-up two months after their original diagnosis.

The researchers found that 1,369 of the 374,408 survivors had an HPV-SMN, which occurred an average of five years after first cancer. AYA survivors had a significantly increased risk for any HPV-SMN and for oropharyngeal-SMNs (standardized incidence ratios [SIR], 1.70 and 2.17, respectively); the risk for cervical-SMN was lower in survivors overall (SIR, 0.85), but was increased in Hispanic AYA survivors (SIR, 1.46). Compared with the general population, AYAs first diagnosed with Kaposi sarcoma, leukemia, and Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma had increased risks for HPV-SMN. In age-period-cohort models, oropharyngeal-SMN incidence decreased over time. Among survivors with first HPV-related cancers, but not those whose first cancers were not HPV-related, chemotherapy and radiotherapy were associated with any HPV-SMN.

“HPV-SMNs are preventable through screenings and vaccination. Recommending preventative care from diagnosis onwards among AYA survivors is of great importance,” the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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