Prevalence and genotype distribution of human papillomavirus infection in different anatomical sites among men who have sex with men: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Summary Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at increased risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection because of their high‐risk sexual behaviours. In this study, a meta‐analytic approach was used to systematically analyse the literature to elucidate the prevalence and genotype distribution of anal, penile, oral and urethral HPV infection among MSM in the world. To carry out this systematic review, five electronic databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched for relevant studies published from January 2012 to November 2019, and pertinent data were collected from the eligible articles. The pooled HPV prevalence was calculated for each anatomical region using a random‐effect model weighted by the inverse variance method. The meta‐analysis was performed using the “Metaprop” function in the R package Meta. The overall pooled prevalence of anal, penile, oral and urethral HPV infection among MSM were 78.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 75.6%–81.0%), 36.2% (95% CI: 29.1%–44.0%), 17.3% (95% CI: 13.6%–21.7%) and 15.4% (95% CI: 7.8%–27.9%), respectively. Stratified analyses showed that the prevalences of HPV were significantly higher in HIV‐positive than HIV‐negative MSM. The most frequent HPV high‐risk type detected in the anus, penis and oral cavity was HPV‐16 (19.9%, 4.9% and 3.1%, respectively). HPV infection is rising in MSM because of high‐risk sexual behaviours, suggesting an increased future risk of developing HPV‐related diseases and malignancies in this population.