Science

Does HPV Affect African American Women Differently?

April 5th, 2012

New research suggests there might be a difference in the time it takes for white women and African American women to fight off HPV infections. But most findings point to access to health care services as the main problem.

When it comes to cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV, African American women have higher rates than their white counterparts. Reduced access to pap smears in some areas may be the reason why.

But Kim Creek at the University of South Carolina wants to know where biology fits into the picture. He tracked about 460 white and African-American college-aged women. Creek looked at the time it took their bodies to overcome an HPV infection.

“What we found was that African American women had a harder time clearing a viral infection,” he says.

After two years of developing an HPV infection, about three-fourths of white women overcame the infection. Only half of African American women overcame infections in the same time period.

And Creek says the longer it takes to overcome HPV infections from cancer-causing strains, the more of a risk that woman may have for developing cancer.

Diane Harper, a professor of medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, says Creek’s findings differ from other studies.

“I think that it’s highly unlikely that HPV is going to act in a different biological manner that is race-dependent when we have seen nothing to indicate this in any of the global studies that we’ve done,” she says.

She’s worried that the findings could lead people to think their race determines their chances of developing cervical cancer.

“The most worrisome thing is to make sure that women get in and get access and get their pap smears taken,” Harper says. “Because that is what’s going to save their lives.”

Kevin Ault, an HPV expert at Emory University and Grady Hospital, says there’s a bigger issue that has less to do with race.

“We know that everybody that’s sexually active is at risk for HPV, so that doesn’t vary from demographic to demographic,” he says.

But what does vary is access to health services like pap smears. He says the issue is especially a problem in Atlanta, where Fulton County’s rates for cervical cancer are twice the national average.