People who had 10 or more oral sex partners are 4.3 times more likely to develop human papillomavirus-related cancer of the mouth and throat, according to new research.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University also found that having oral sex at a younger age – and with more partners – also increases the risk of cancers caused by HPV.
“Our research helps patients and doctors to answer the question, ‘Why did I develop HPV-related cancer,’” co-author Dr. Virginia Drake told UPI.
“The risk of infection is not just related to the number of oral sex partners in a lifetime, as the timing of oral sex and the type of partner also play an important role,” said Drake, a head and neck surgeon at Johns Hopkins.
In the United States, just over 7 percent of all adults ages 18 to 69 have HPV, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 45,000 people – 55% of them women – are diagnosed with HPV-related cancer each year, the CDC estimates.
The Baltimore hospital team surveyed 163 adults with HPV-related mouth and throat cancer – and 345 without those diseases – about their sexual behaviors.
Having oral sex in adolescence or adolescence increases the risk of cancer by 80 percent, the researchers said. Starting younger and having more partners increases the risk by 180 percent, they added.
Meanwhile, people who had older sexual partners when they were young and those with partners who had extramarital sex were up to 70% more likely to have the disease, according to data cited by the UPI.
“People with HPV-associated cancer have a wide spectrum of sexual histories,” said Drake.
“As with all STDs, having new partners poses some risk of infection, but most people who are infected clear the infection without developing cancer,” she added.
In a statement, she said: “As the incidence of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer continues to increase in the United States, our study offers a contemporary assessment of risk factors for this disease.
“We discovered additional nuances of how and why some people can develop this cancer, which can help to identify those most at risk,” added Drake.