Male Sexual Partner Evaluation and Relapse Risk in Women Treated for Genital Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Lesions - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

Purpose: to study the association between the evaluation or not of the male partner and relapses in women treated for HPV lesions. Methods: a reconstituted cohort study with 144 women with HPV lesions and whose partners had been evaluated, compared with 288 women whose partners had not been examined, controlled regarding date of attendance, age, lesion degree and treatment, attended between July 1993 and March 2000. We evaluated similarity between the groups, the association between the evaluation or not of the partners or the diagnosis of lesions with the occurrence and relapse lesion degree in the women and the disease-free interval (DFI). Results: the groups were similar regarding the control variables. Relapses occurred in 9.0 % of the women whose partners had been evaluated and in 5.9% of those whose partners had not been evaluated (p=0.23). When lesions were diagnosed in the men, 12.5% of their partners had relapses, against 7.3% of the women whose partners had no lesions (p=0.23), but there was no correlation with the relapse lesion degree and DFI. When the men reported a time of monogamous conjugal relationship <12 months, we observed 14.9% relapses in women, against 6.2% for the women whose partners reported a longer time (p=0.08). Conclusions: evaluation of the man did not decrease the relapse risk of HPV lesions in his partner. The presence of lesions in the male partners did not correlate with the occurrence and relapse degree in women and DFI. This study does not support the hypothesis that nonevaluated men would be an important cause of relapses in their partners.