BACKGROUND: Persistent infection with high-risk genotypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main risk factor in the development of uterine cervical precancerous lesions and cervical cancer (CC), and cases of HPV-induced oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is increasing in the Western world. We investigated the association between HPV and p16 status and previous results of cervical examinations, including cytological and histological tests, in females with OPSCC.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included females diagnosed with an OPSCC in Eastern Denmark from 2000 to 2014. OPSCCs were assessed for p16-overexpression and HPV DNA PCR. History of cervical tests was obtained from the Danish Pathology Registry. The cytology and histological results were categorized in accordance with the 2014 Bethesda System (TBS) and WHO. Hence, we divide the cervical results into two groups. Group I were negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy and group II had epithelial cell abnormalities and subdivided after increasingly neoplastic severity from A-D. Chi2-tests and Fischer's exact tests were performed to compare the two groups.

RESULTS: A total of 417 women with OPSCC were identified; 203 with HPV-positive tumors (49%) of which cervical cytology or histology were available in 172 women (85%). Among these, 22 (13%) patients had a cervical history of ≥ IIC. A total of 171 out of 214 women in the HPV-negative group (80%) were examined with cytology and 17 had a history of ≥ IIC. No significant difference in diagnoses of (pre)cancerous lesions between the OPSCC HPV-positive and negative groups were observed (χ2 test p = .28, Fischer's exact test p = .29).

CONCLUSION: HPV status in oropharyngeal tumors was not correlated with a history of ≥ IIC in cervical examinations. The effect on cervical dysplasia may be masked by a higher incidence of smoking among the OPSCC HPV-negative group.