Clinical Characteristics of Anogenital Warts Among Patients Attending Genitourinary Medicine Clinic Hospital Kuala Lumpur Between 2015 and 2020

ABSTRACT

Background@#Anogenital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most frequent reported sexually transmitted infection in the world. We aim to describe the local demographic data and the clinical characteristics of anogenital warts (AGWs).@*Methods@#This is a retrospective study on all patients with AGWs who attended the GUM clinic between 2015 and 2020. Data was obtained from case notes and further analysed.@*Results@#A total of 935 patients with AGWs attended the GUM clinic between 2015 and 2020. The mean age was 30.4 years (range 12-84). The male to female ratio was 2.351. Majority were Malaysian (97%). Majority of the Malaysian were Malays (61.5%) followed by Chinese (27.7%) and Indian (8.9%). About 5.6% had a history of substance abuse. While the majority (57.9%) were heterosexual, 34.8% were homosexual and 6.4% were bisexual. About 59.8% had more than one sexual partner. A quarter (25.6%) was infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. The most frequent site of AGWs in males was the perianal area (52.6%), followed by the penis (45.7%), and with a fifth of them having lesions at multiple sites. For female patients, the most frequent site of AGWs was the posterior fourchette (45.2%) followed by the labia minora (33%) with 46.6% had involvement at multiple sites. Approximately 17.6% had other concomitant sexually transmitted infections. Local treatment application used included cryotherapy (86.4%), podophyllin (35.3%), tri-chloroacetic acid (26.8%) and imiquimod (2.6%). About 41.5% required combination of these modalities. Nearly 6.2% experienced recurrence. About 2% required surgical intervention.@*Conclusions@#AGWs was more commonly observed in male. The most frequent site of involvement was perianal for male (52.6%) and posterior fourchette in female (45.2%).