(Press-News.org) In addition to causing several types of cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV) appears to bring a significantly increased risk of heart disease and coronary artery disease, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25).
Evidence that HPV is linked with heart disease has begun to emerge only recently. This new study is the first to assess the association by pooling data from several global studies, totaling nearly 250,000 patients. Its findings bolster the evidence that a significant relationship exists and warrants further attention from researchers, clinicians and patients.
“Our study shows that clearly there is an association of some kind between HPV and cardiovascular disease,” said Stephen Akinfenwa, MD, an internal medicine resident at UConn School of Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, and the study’s lead author. “The biological mechanism has not been determined but is hypothesized to be related to chronic inflammation. We would ultimately like to see if reducing HPV via vaccination could reduce cardiovascular risk.”
HPV is a common viral infection spread by intimate contact. It can cause genital warts and cancers of the genitals, anus and throat. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all children and teens receive the HPV vaccine to prevent cancers associated with the infection; however, many U.S. adults have not been vaccinated because they were past the recommended age to receive the vaccine when it became available in 2006.
For the meta-analysis, researchers identified seven studies conducted between 2011 and 2024 that included data on HPV status and cardiovascular outcomes across a follow-up time of three years to 17 years. Most were retrospective and longitudinal cohort studies; three were from the United States, two were from South Korea, one was from Brazil and one was from Australia.
The researchers used several statistical approaches to extract data on the relationship between HPV and cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease (a condition when plaque builds up in the heart’s arteries, reducing blood flow to the heart) and high blood pressure among the pooled study cohorts. Some of the analyses also adjusted for potential confounding variables such as smoking, diabetes and other known heart disease risk factors.
Overall, the results showed that HPV-positive patients had a 40% higher likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease and twice the risk of developing coronary artery disease compared with HPV-negative patients. Even after adjusting for confounding variables such as sociodemographic factors, medical history, lifestyle behaviors, family history of heart disease and use of blood pressure-lowering drugs, the relationship between HPV and heart disease remained, with HPV-positive patients having a 33% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared with patients without HPV. No statistically significant association was found with high blood pressure.
Based on the findings, Akinfenwa said that clinicians 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,” Akinfenwa said. “This makes it important to identify non-conventional risk factors like HPV that could potentially be targeted.”
He said that further research is needed to better understand the strength and mechanisms of the linkage between HPV infection and heart disease and the potential role of HPV vaccination in preventing cardiovascular problems.
Akinfenwa will present the study, “Human Papillomavirus Infection and Cardiovascular Diseases: A Meta-Analysis of Effect Sizes from 249,366 Patients,” on Monday, March 31, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. CT / 17:00 UTC in South Hall.
ACC.25 will take place March 29-31, 2025, in Chicago, bringing together cardiologists and cardiovascular specialists from around the world to share the newest discoveries in treatment and prevention. Follow @ACCinTouch, @ACCMediaCenter and #ACC25 for the latest news from the meeting.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is the global leader in transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all. As the preeminent source of professional medical education for the entire cardiovascular care team since 1949, ACC credentials cardiovascular professionals in over 140 countries who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. Through its world-renowned family of JACC Journals, NCDR registries, ACC Accreditation Services, global network of Member Sections, CardioSmart patient resources and more, the College is committed to ensuring a world where science, knowledge and innovation optimize patient care and outcomes. Learn more at ACC.org.
###
END
A new peer-reviewed studyi* published in Frontiers in Nutrition provides compelling evidence that pork can play a beneficial role in sustainable diets. The research, conducted by scientists at William & Mary, modeled the environmental and economic impacts of substituting various protein sources with pork in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.
The findings suggest that pork performs similarly to poultry, seafood, eggs and legumes across key sustainability and agricultural resource indicators with a ± 1% change in land use, fertilizer nutrient use and pesticide use.
Modeled ...
Imagine a robot that can walk, without electronics, and only with the addition of a cartridge of compressed gas, right off the 3D-printer. It can also be printed in one go, from one material.
That is exactly what roboticists have achieved in robots developed by the Bioinspired Robotics Laboratory at the University of California San Diego. They describe their work in an advanced online publication in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems.
To achieve this feat, researchers aimed to use the simplest technology available: a desktop ...
Mill Valley, CA – March 25, 2025 – The SynGAP Research Fund (SRF) dba Cure SYNGAP1 501(c)(3) announced a $130,000 grant to Dr. Vikaas Sohal at The Regents of The University of California, San Francisco. The grant supports research into new therapies for reversing cognitive deficits in SYNGAP1-related disorders (SRD) by enhancing key brain functions.
Dr. Sohal’s research focuses on cognitive flexibility—the ability to adapt behavior in response to environmental changes—a ...
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a growing global concern, affecting approximately 2.8% of children in the United States and 0.7% in China. ASD is characterized by challenges in social interaction, communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors, making early diagnosis critical for improving outcomes. However, current diagnostic methods rely primarily on behavioral observations, which may delay early interventions. Despite ongoing research, the structural and functional brain differences between children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children remain poorly understood.
Now, in a recent study published in NeuroImage and made available online on February ...
Siberia, a province located in Russia, is a significant geographical region playing a crucial role in the world’s carbon cycle. With its vast forests, wetlands, and permafrost regions (permanently frozen grounds), Siberia stores a considerable amount of carbon on a global scale. But climate change is rapidly altering Siberia’s landscape, shifting its vegetative distribution and accelerating the permafrost thaw. Classifying land cover is essential to predict future climatic changes, but accumulating land cover data in regions like ...
Life has evolved over billions of years, adapting to the changing environment. Similarly, enzymes—proteins that speed up biochemical reactions (catalysis) in cells—have adapted to the habitats of their host organisms. Each enzyme has an optimal temperature range where its functionality is at its peak. For humans, this is around normal body temperature (37 °C). Deviating from this range causes enzyme activity to slow down and eventually stop. However, some organisms, like bacteria, thrive in extreme environments, such as hot springs or freezing polar waters. These extremophiles have enzymes adapted to function in harsh conditions.
For ...
Obesity is linked to numerous health complications, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and fatty liver disease. In a world where obesity rates continue to climb, researchers are constantly seeking effective, accessible solutions to this global health crisis. Interestingly, over the past few decades, scientists have begun to focus not only on what we eat but also on how we eat it.
While much attention has indeed focused on dietary content and caloric intake, emerging research suggests that eating behaviors—including meal duration, chewing speed, and number of bites taken—may ...
A new study published in The Journal of Immunology found that a high-salt diet (HSD) induces depression-like symptoms in mice by driving the production of a protein called IL-17A. This protein has previously been identified as a contributor to depression in human clinical studies.
“This work supports dietary interventions, such as salt reduction, as a preventive measure for mental illness. It also paves the way for novel therapeutic strategies targeting IL-17A to treat depression,” shared Dr. Xiaojun Chen, a researcher at Nanjing ...
Along with nitrogen and carbon, phosphorus is an essential element for life on Earth. It is a central component of molecules such as DNA and RNA, which serve to transmit and store genetic information, and ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which cells need to produce energy.
Phosphorus may also have played a key role in the origin of life. Certain conditions are needed to trigger the start of the biochemical processes that precede life. One of these is the presence of sufficient phosphorus. Its availability regulates the growth and activities of organisms. Unlike nitrogen or carbon, however, phosphorus is relatively ...
The findings come from the most comprehensive computer model of brain metabolism to date, which incorporates more than 16,800 biochemical interactions between proteins and chemicals across brain cells, supporting cells, and the blood.
Scientists can now use this open-source model to find ways to prevent age-related diseases, such as dementia.“This study provides an x-ray view into the battery that powers the brain,” said Henry Markram, Professor of Neuroscience at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, the senior author of the study. “We can now track ...
