ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To investigate the
association between
bacterial vaginosis and cervical
human papillomavirus (HPV)
infection in young and
adult women.
METHODS This
systematic review and
meta-analysis was based on the Prisma methodological guidelines.
PubMed and Web of
Science were searched using the following
descriptors "
bacterial vaginosis and HPV", in June 2019. Articles published from 2012 to 2019 were included. Inclusion criteria were original studies that investigated the
association between
bacterial vaginosis and cervical
HPV infection; articles published in English, Spanish or Portuguese; studies conducted in young and
adult, non-pregnant, non-
HIV-infected
women; studies that used the Nugent criteria for the
diagnosis of
bacterial vaginosis and studies in which the
detection of HPV used the
polymerase chain reaction technique. Assembled data,
odds ratio (OR) and respective 95%
confidence intervals (95%CI) were estimated for the
association between
bacterial vaginosis and cervical
HPV infection using random-effects models. A bilateral value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULT Six studies were selected for
analysis and demonstrated
association between
bacterial vaginosis and cervical
HPV infection (OR = 2.68; 95%CI 1.64-4.40; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION
Bacterial vaginosis was considered a
risk factor for cervical
HPV infection, since
women with
bacterial vaginosis were more likely to be infected with HPV.