Cross-sectional study estimating the psychosocial impact of genital warts and other anogenital diseases in South Korea.

To estimate self-reported human papillomavirus (HPV) disease-related psychosocial impact among male and female patients in South Korea. In this multicentre cross-sectional study, psychosocial impacts were estimated using a one-time survey capturing HPV Impact Profile (HIP) results, CuestionarioEspecifico en Condilomas Acuminados (CECA; in Spanish)-'Specific questionnaire for Condylomata Acuminata' and the EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) surveys. Student's t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests were used for continuous comparisons; χ 5098 clinics throughout Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Kwangju and Daejeon (South Korea). Patients with and without genital warts (GW) (males) and selected HPV diseases (females) visiting primary care physicians, obstetricians/gynaecologists, urologists and dermatologists with 2-30 years experience. Of 150 male and 250 female patients, HIP scores showed 85.3% of male patients with GW and 32.0% without reported moderate psychological impact (p<0.0001). In categorised total scores, 88.5% of female patients with and 66.0% without selected HPV-related diseases reported moderate or high psychological impacts (p=0.0004). In the CECA questionnaire, male patients had mean (SD) scores of 10.51 (3.79) in 'emotional health' and 15.90 (6.13) in 'sexual activity'. Female patients with GW reported lower scores in both dimensions with mean scores of 7.18 (4.17) in 'emotional health' and 10.97 (5.80) in 'sexual activity' (p<0.0001), indicating worse health-related quality of life (HRQoL). For the EQ-5D, male patients with GW reported lower mean Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores than those without (75.1 vs 81.13, p<0.0135). Mean VAS score and utility values were lower for females with HPV-related diseases than those without (72.18 vs 76.86 and 0.90 vs 0.94, respectively). In South Korea, GW in men and HPV-related diseases in women negatively impact patient well-being and HRQoL scores. Among women, those with GW suffered a greater psychosocial impact than those with other selected HPV-related diseases.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interests: TSL has no conflicts to declare. KY was a paid contractor for Merck & Co at the time of the study and was an employee of Cubist Pharmaceuticals December 2014–July 2015, which was acquired by Merck & Co in January 2015. AK, SK-T and PKS are employees of Merck & Co. SMG received grants to her institution from the Commonwealth Department of Health for HPV genoprevalance surveillance postvaccination, Merck & Co, and Glaxo Smith Kline to perform phase 3 clinical vaccine trials: Merck to evaluate HPV in RRP postvaccination programme; CSL for HPV in cervical cancer study, and VCA for a study on the effectiveness of a public health HPV vaccine study, and a study on the associations of early-onset cancers. SMG also received speaking fees from MSD and SPMSD for work performed in her personal time. Merck & Co also paid for travel and accommodation to present at HPV Advisory board meetings. ARG is a member of Merck & Co advisory boards. Her institution has received grants and contracts to support HPV-related research. NL and MR are employees of IQVIA, Barcelona, Spain, which is a paid consultant to Merck & Co. WJ has no conflicts to declare.