High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Korean Women: A Cohort Study

Rationale: Until now, no cohort studies have evaluated the relationship between high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and new-onset cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Objective: We investigated an association between high-risk HPV infection and the development of CVD. Methods and Results: We conducted a cohort study of 63,411 women aged 30 or older without CVD at baseline who underwent a high-risk HPV test and were followed annually or biennially from 2011 to 2016. CVD was ascertained through the linkage to the Health Insurance and Review Agency database. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of incident CVD. The prevalence of high-risk HPV infection was 7.6%. During 261,598.9 person-years of follow-up, 1,122 cases of new-onset CVD were identified (incidence rate of 4.3 per 103 person-years). High-risk HPV infection was significantly associated with incident CVD. After adjustment for possible confounders, and ...