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. 2018 Apr 11;10(4):469.
doi: 10.3390/nu10040469.

The Association of Dietary Patterns with High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection and Cervical Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italy

Martina Barchitta  1 , Andrea Maugeri  2 , Annalisa Quattrocchi  3 , Ottavia Agrifoglio  4 , Aurora Scalisi  5 , Antonella Agodi  6
Affiliations

The Association of Dietary Patterns with High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection and Cervical Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italy

Martina Barchitta et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Specific foods and nutrients help prevent the progression of persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) infection to cervical cancer (CC). The aim of this study was to investigate dietary patterns which may be associated with hrHPV status and the risk of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2+). Overall, 539 eligible women, including 127 with CIN2+, were enrolled in a cross-sectional study, and tested for hrHPV infection. Food intake was estimated using a food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression models were applied. Using the Mediterranean Diet Score, we demonstrated that, among 252 women with a normal cervical epithelium, medium adherence to the Mediterranean diet decreased the odds of hrHPV infection when compared to low adherence (adjOR = 0.40, 95%CI = 0.22-0.73). Using the principal component analysis, we also identified two dietary patterns which explained 14.31% of the variance in food groups intake. Women in the third and fourth quartiles of the "Western pattern" had higher odds of hrHPV infection when compared with first quartile (adjOR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.04-3.54 and adjOR = 1.97, 95%CI = 1.14-4.18, respectively). Adjusting for hrHPV status and age, women in the third quartile of the "prudent pattern" had lower odds of CIN2+ when compared with those in the first quartile (OR = 0.50, 95%CI = 0.26-0.98). Our study is the first to demonstrate the association of dietary patterns with hrHPV infection and CC and discourages unhealthy habits in favour of a Mediterranean-like diet.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet score; Western diet; cervical intraepithelial neoplasia; principal component analysis; prudent diet.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scree plot of the eigenvalues. The scree plot, used to determinate the appropriate number of principal components, shows the eigenvalues, which represent the partitioning of the total variation accounted for by each principal component against the PCA component number.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Table of factor loadings that characterize each dietary pattern. In red are food groups that negatively characterize dietary patterns; in green are food groups that positively characterize dietary patterns), factor loadings ≥0.2 are in bold font. PCA1: Western dietary pattern; PCA2: prudent dietary pattern.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Radar graph of factor loadings that characterize each dietary pattern. The red line represents the distribution of the factor loadings related to the PCA1 component (Western dietary pattern). The blue line represents the distribution of factor loadings related to the PCA2 component (prudent dietary pattern).
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