THE DETECTION OF HPV DNA, THE SIZE OF TAMPON SPECIMENS AND THE MENSTRUAL-CYCLE

Objective-To determine if HPV detection or the size of a tampon specim en is affected by the menstrual cycle. Materials-Two hundred and eight y women between 18-35 years of age attending a gynaecology clinic at T he Royal Women's Hospital were enrolled. Each woman completed a questi onnaire on the risk factors of HPV infection and provided a tampon spe cimen. Specimens were analysed for the presence of HPV DNA (polymerase chain reaction with the L1 consensus primers) after the pellet volume and number of cells was assessed. Results-The mean age of the 298 wom en enrolled in this study was 27.0 years (SD 4.5, range 18-35). Ninety two (30.9%) of the tampon specimens were positive for HPV using the L 1 consensus primer. The detection of HPV DNA was not associated with t he quartiles of the menstrual cycle (p = 0.32). Both the pellet volume and the number of cells from a tampon specimen were greater during th e mid cycle, although this was significant for the pellet volume only (p = 0.002 and 0.1 respectively). The pellet volume was not significan tly associated with other variables assessed by the questionnaire. The number of cells from a tampon specimen increased with the numbers of life time sexual partners (p = 0.002) and was higher for a single mari tal status (p = 0.0008). Conclusion-The timing of the menstrual cycle effects the size of tampon specimens but not the probability of detect ing HPV DNA.