Epidemiological aspects of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis: A population‐based study

Abstract

Objectives/Hypothesis:The incidence of genital infections, cervical cancer, and oropharyngeal cancer induced by human papillomaviruses (HPV) is increasing in Western countries. Primarily, this study was conducted to estimate the incidence rate of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) in juveniles and adults in two Norwegian subpopulations for each year between 1987 and 2009. The secondary objective of the study was to investigate whether there are trends in the incidence rates of RRP in the study period similar to what we have seen for HPV‐related cancer.Study Design:Population‐based study.Methods:Two Norwegian subpopulations with 2.6 million and 1.1 million inhabitants were investigated for the juvenile and adult forms of RRP, respectively, between the years of 1987 and 2009. Patients treated for RRP were identified in all ear/nose/throat departments located in the two areas.Results:The overall incidence rates of RRP in juveniles and adults were 0.17 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.10–0.25) and 0.54 (95% CI, 0.44–0.65) per 100,000, respectively. We found a preponderance of males in both groups (P = .000 for adults and P = .038 for children). There was no significant change in the yearly incidence rate during the study period, for either adults or children, even when stratifying for gender in each group. The median age at onset was 4 years for children and 34 years for adults, with no significant difference between genders, nor significant changes during the study years.Conclusions:This study does not support our hypothesis of an increasing incidence of RRP, for either children or adults. The estimated incidence rates in the Norwegian subpopulations are consistent with former population‐based studies. Male preponderance in children was an unexpected finding. Further studies are warranted. Laryngoscope, 2012

Risk Factors for Aggressive Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis in Adults and Juveniles

“…There is no surveillance of genital warts in Norway as there is in the UK and USA, but similar trends are reported in Scandinavia for both genital warts [23] and oropharyngeal carcinomas [24], [25]. It is reasonable to expect similar trends in RRP, but currently we have no evidence of such [8], [9].…”

“…The condition is rare [7]–[9] and characterized by recurrent growth of benign papillomas in the respiratory tract, most commonly in the larynx [10], [11]. According to the age at onset, two types of RRP are recognized; juvenile- (JoRRP) and adult-onset (AoRRP).…”

The incidence and prevalence of juvenile-onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in the Free State province of South Africa and Lesotho

“…The infection is believed to be acquired from the mother's genital tract during the birthing process [1]. Although the estimated incidence and prevalence of JORRP has been determined in countries in North America and Europe and in Australia [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10], there have not been any studies that have attempted to determine the incidence or prevalence of JORRP in African countries.…”

Conjunctival Papilloma

“…Papillomatosis in other sites of the body show a female predominance for genital (33% vs 67%) and cutaneous (49% vs 51%) papillomas and a male predominance for upper respiratory involvement (77% vs 23%). 24,[26][27][28] Multicentric conjunctival papillomas were more common in children and adolescents than in adults, and the numerous lesions coalesced to form massive papillomatosis in 1 patient ( Figure 1B). Ash 17 studied 245 conjunctival papillomas in patients of all ages (range, 1-97 years) and found that the most common location of conjunctival papilloma was the bulbar conjunctiva (42%).…”