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Along with causing several types of cancer, human papillomavirus appears to significantly increase the risk of heart disease, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session in Chicago this week. Pooling data from seven studies that tracked nearly 250,000 volunteers for up to 17 years, researchers found that HPV-positive patients had a 40% higher likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease and twice the risk of developing coronary artery disease in particular, compared with HPV-negative patients. Even after accounting for sociodemographic factors, medical history, lifestyle behaviors, family history of heart disease, and use of blood pressure-lowering drugs, HPV-positive patients still had a 33% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The researchers say doctors could consider closer heart monitoring for people who test positive for HPV, in keeping with recommendations for patients with other known heart disease risk factors. “We always talk about cardiovascular risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure and so on, but we know that about 20% of cardiovascular disease cannot be explained by these conventional risk factors," study leader Dr. Stephen Akinfenwa of UConn School of Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, said in a statement. "This makes it important to identify non-conventional risk factors like HPV that could be targeted.” The reason for the association is unclear, but it's likely related to chronic inflammation, he said. “We would ultimately like to see if reducing HPV via vaccination could reduce cardiovascular risk.” |