HPV infection and endometriosis

Introduction: Recent research has focused on the role of persistent ascending bacterial infections and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) as an associated factor of endometriosis. Indeed, some studies investigated the possible role of HPV in endometriosis, but this topic remains inconclusive. Objective: The present study aims to meta-analyze research that assessed the presence of HPV infection in patients with endometriosis. Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, LILACS, Cochrane Library, and OpenGrey were searched until February 10th, 2020. Search terms included “endometriosis” and “HPV” without language restrictions. Pooled relative risks and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated, and heterogeneity was assessed with I-squared (I2). Results: The meta-analysis with low heterogeneity found a twice as much relative risk in women exposed to HPV in relation to the unexposed control. Conclusion: The results indicate that HPV could be a risk factor for the development of endometriosis.