Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42371486›Full record

ArticleClinical epidemiology2026

Stress Disorders and Human Papillomavirus-Related Cancer Rates: A Population-Based Cohort Study in Denmark.

Sarah E Weber, Dóra Körmendiné Farkas, Sharon M Casey, Tina Bech Olesen, Mette Nørgaard, Jaimie L Gradus

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Article in Clinical epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Sarah E WeberDepartment of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5828-8500
Dóra Körmendiné FarkasDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-8577-048X
Sharon M CaseyDepartment of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4972-0407
Tina Bech OlesenDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-6295-7399
Mette NørgaardDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0001-6110-5891
Jaimie L GradusDepartment of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1459-5327

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Purpose: Stress disorders are associated with immunosuppression, potentially reducing the ability to clear human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, leading to an increased risk of HPV-related cancers. We investigated the association between stress disorders and HPV-related cancers in Denmark. Patients and Methods: Using population-based medical registries, we identified patients with an incident hospital-diagnosed stress disorder between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2021 (acute stress reaction, posttraumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder, and other/unspecified reactions to severe stress), matched them by age and sex to individuals without any stress disorder diagnoses in the general population (1:5 ratio), and identified subsequent HPV-related cancer diagnoses (cervical, anal, vulvar, vaginal, penile, base of tongue, tonsillar, oropharyngeal) through 2022. Follow-up began after a 1-year lag period and was censored at first HPV-related cancer, other cancer diagnosis, emigration, death, or end of study. Covariates were measured prior to stress disorder diagnosis or matching date. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the sex-stratified adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of any HPV-related cancer and specific HPV-related cancers, adjusting for potential confounders. Results: During a median follow-up of approximately 10 years, there were 755 cases of HPV-related cancer in the stress disorder cohort (n=242,828) and 2,820 cases in the comparison cohort. Women with diagnosed stress disorders were more likely to develop any HPV-related cancer (aHR=1.3, 95% CI: 1.1-1.4), while men with stress disorders had an elevated rate of anal cancer specifically (aHR=1.7, 95% CI: 1.0-2.9) than their counterparts without stress disorders. The association between stress disorders and HPV-related cancer increased with younger age at stress disorder diagnosis and with longer follow-up time. Conclusion: Our results suggest an association between stress disorders and slightly elevated rates of HPV-related cancer, which strengthens with longer follow-up, underscoring the need to understand biological and behavioral pathways linking stress disorders to increased risk of HPV-related cancer.

Indexed as

cancercohort studiesepidemiologyhuman papillomavirusmental healthtrauma and stressor related disorders

Identifiers

PMID42371486
PMCPMC13310492

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.