Sexual behaviour in Britain: early heterosexual experience

Wellings, Kaye; Nanchahal, Kiran; Macdowall, Wendy; McManus, Sally; Erens, Bob; Mercer, Catherine H; Johnson, Anne M; Copas, Andrew; Korovessis, Christos; Fenton, Kevin; Field, Julia

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(01)06885-4

Cited by 549 publications

(542 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In the United States, 6.8 and 24.7% of 12 -19 and 20 -29 years old female subjects, respectively, were found by ELISA to have HPV 16 antibodies (Stone et al, 2002). Our results are also consistent with the onset of sexual activity in the UK, as described by a sexual behaviour study in 2000 which found that 50% of women reported sexual debut by age 17 years (Wellings et al, 2001). The results for HPV 16 and 18 in women of ages eligible for cervical screening consistently exceeded the proportion of women found to be HPV DNA positive in a recent study of residual cervical smear samples (Kitchener et al, 2006), as expected for a persistent marker of previous infection.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Prevalence of human papillomavirus antibodies in young female subjects in England

Jit

Vyse²,

Borrow³

et al. 2007

Br J Cancer

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Sera from 1483 female subjects in England aged 10 -29 years were tested. The age-standardised seroprevalence was 10.7% (95% confidence intervals 9.0 -12.3) for human papillomavirus (HPV) 6, 2.7% (1.8 -3.6) for HPV 11, 11.9% (10.2 -13.6) for HPV 16, 4.7% (3.5 -5.8) for HPV 18, Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types identified as 'high-risk' is a pre-requisite for developing cervical cancer (Munoz et al, 2003). HPV types 16 and 18 are associated with 70% of cervical cancers worldwide (Munoz et al, 2003), while HPV types 6 and 11, although not 'high-risk', are associated with over 90% of cases of anogenital warts (von Krogh et al, 2001). Two prophylactic vaccines against HPV (a bivalent vaccine against types 16 and 18, and a quadrivalent vaccine that also includes types 6 and 11) have been shown in clinical trials to reduce persistent HPV infection and associated disease by over 90% in up to 5 years of follow-up (Harper et al, 2004;Villa et al, 2006).Epidemiological knowledge of HPV infection in the UK relies heavily on prevalence studies of HPV DNA in the cervical epithelium of women undergoing cervical sampling (Woodman et al, 2001;Kitchener et al, 2006) and usually relates to female subjects known to be sexually active. These studies indicate the prevalence of current infection, as most HPV infections are transient and become DNA negative within 2 years (Moscicki et al, 2006). In individuals who mount a detectable humoral immune response, HPV type-specific serum antibodies are an indicator of past exposure. Testing of blood samples also offers the opportunity to survey different populations.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) utilising viruslike particles have been used successfully for seroprevalence studies in several countries including the USA (Stone et al, 2002) and Sweden (af Geijersstam et al, 1999). We report on the first population-based study of HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18 seroprevalence in England, in 10-to 29-year-old female subjects -the likely target age range for vaccination, but an age range in which little is known about infection rates. MATERIALS AND METHODSSerum specimens were obtained from the Health Protection Agency Sero-Epidemiology Unit collection, consisting of unlinked residual sera submitted to laboratories in England for routine microbiological or biochemical investigations. Sera from immunocompromised individuals and repeat sera from the same individuals were excluded (Osborne et al, 2000).Sera were selected from 1483 women aged 10 -29 years, chosen as most important for informing the design of HPV vaccination programmes in the UK. Sera came from 11 laboratories in England that collected samples in 2002 -2004. About 90 samples were selected for each single year of age in the range 10 -19 years, and about 60 samples for each of the ages 20 -29 years. Samples were tested for specific neutralising antibodies to HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18 by Merck and Co Inc., using a multiplexed competitive Luminex s assay with antibody levels reported in milli-Merck units per millilitre (mMu ml À1 ...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Prevalence of human papillomavirus antibodies in young female subjects in England

Jit

Vyse²,

Borrow³

et al. 2007

Br J Cancer

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“…The increases in appropriate contraceptive use mirror improvements in adolescent contraception use reported from other surveys for the US 11,13 and the UK 14 , and are in line with the reported global increase in condom use 26 . However an important minority -the poorly protected -find themselves at risk of pregnancy and STI transmission even if they think they are protected by use of other, less efficacious, methods (e. g., withdrawal, spermicides), and there are still very wide crossnational differences.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…However, the average age of coitarche is also decreasing, and in many countries and regions there has been a reported rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) 2,12 . Thus, while the risk profile may be changing, early and poorly protected sexual intercourse remains of central relevance to public health 11,13,14 . The potential risks associated with sexual behaviour among 15 year olds are mainly linked to the emotional and behavioural characteristics of this developmental stage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How well protected are sexually active 15-year olds? Cross-national patterns in condom and contraceptive pill use 2002–2006

Gabhainn

Băban

Boyce

et al. 2009

Int J Public Health

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“…11,12 This study showed substantial changes in social norms and sexual behaviour over the past decade. For both men and women, the number of lifetime heterosexual partners increased substantially between 1990 and 2000 (Fig 3).…”

Section: Number Of Lifetime Partnersmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…12 Young people do not always have the negotiation skills to ensure the consistent and effective use of condoms, but as a group, with both higher rates of partner change and more concurrent sexual partnerships, they are already at disproportionate risk of acquiring STIs.…”

Section: Age At First Intercoursementioning

confidence: 99%