A Cohort Study Comparing the Detection of HPV DNA from Women Who Stop and Continue to Smoke

Abstract

Summary: The objective of this study was to compare the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in women who stopped smoking, and those who continued to smoke. Women entering a smoking cessation programme had tampon specimens collected and analyzed for HPV DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (LI consensus primers). Women with HPV DNA in their initial specimens had follow‐up specimens collected 1 year later. The stored initial specimens were reanalyzed in the same experiment with the follow‐up specimen. In addition, Hybrid Capture and quantitative PCR were used to determine if the change in HPV DNA over the year of follow‐up was greater in either group. Of 197 women who were recruit..