The Human Papillomavirus and Its Relationship to Infertility and Endometriosis

Recep Emre Okyay, Hakan Kula, Onur Yavuz, Aslı Akdöner, Erkan Çağlıyan
In: Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology · 2023 · vol. 50(8) · doi:10.31083/j.ceog5008170 · W4385985446
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 2 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This study found that human papillomavirus (HPV) positivity, particularly high-risk HPV 16/18, was associated with increased infertility, endometriosis-related pain, and dyspareunia in endometriosis patients.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This cross-sectional study evaluated human papillomavirus (HPV) positivity in 410 endometriosis patients, comparing HPV-positive versus HPV-negative groups for endometriosis-related pain symptoms, infertility, and endometrioma presence; HPV DNA was tested from vaginal swabs using the Cobas 4800 HPV test with specific identification of HPV 16/18 (“high-risk”) and grouping of other high-risk types as “Other HPV.” Dyspareunia was statistically more frequent in the “Other HPV”-positive group than in HPV-negative patients, and infertility was significantly higher in the HPV 16/18–positive group than in both HPV-negative and “Other HPV”–positive groups. The paper explicitly notes that it excluded vaccinated individuals and those with prior cervical lesions/cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, sexually transmitted infections, and immunosuppressive conditions, which may limit generalizability. The paper is centrally about endometriosis — it assesses HPV subtype–specific associations with dyspareunia and infertility among women with endometriosis.

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Abstract

Background: The pathogenesis of endometriosis is still debatable, and many studies reported a predisposition to infectious and immunological factors. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the human papillomavirus (HPV) positivity in endometriosis pain-related symptoms and infertility. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 410 endometriosis patients were enrolled in this study. HPV-positive (n = 202) and HPV-negative (n = 208) patients compared with pain-related symptoms, infertility, and endometrioma presence. The term “Other HPV” was utilized to encompass all HPV types with the exception of HPV 16 and 18, which were specifically identified as HPV 16/18. Results: Dyspareunia in the “Other HPV”-positive group (12.8 %) was statistically higher than in the HPV-negative group (4.8%; p = 0.007). The infertility rate was significantly higher in the HPV 16/18 positive group (high-risk HPV) 35.8% than in the HPV-negative (7.6%), and “Other HPV” positive group (8%; p < 0.001). Endometriosis-related pain symptoms were significantly higher in high-risk HPV (49%) than in the HPV-negative (37%), and “Other HPV” positive group (46.3%; p = 0.046). The ovarian endometrioma rate was slightly higher in group HPV 16/18 positive population (16.9%) than in “Other HPV” types positive (11.4%), and HPV-negative groups (7.2%; p = 0.08). Conclusions: Our results could provide a potential predisposing role of HPV infection in pain in endometriosis clinics and infertility. Moreover, HPV subtypes may have a different impact on clinical conditions.

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endometriosisendometriomadyspareuniainfertility

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