Objective: To investigate body mass index [BMT] and frequency of human papilloma virus [HPV] infection and determine their association in a Thai woman cohort.

Materials and Methods: Retrospective BMT and HPV genotyping data were retrieved from 4,487 Thai women who participated in a cervical cancer screening program at Chulabhorn Hospital. BMT (kg/m2) was categorized as less than 18.5 (below normal weight), 18.5 to 22.99 (normal weight), 23.00 to 24.99 (upper range of normal weight), 25.00 to 29.99 (overweight), and greater than or equal to 30.00 (obese), respectively. Linear array HPV testing kit was used to identify 37 HPV types including 12 high-risk [HR], 8 probable high-risk [PR], and 17 low-risk [LR] types.

Results: Of 4,487 participants, 1,078 cases were overweight (24%), 351 cases were obese (7.8%), 801 cases (17.9%) were in the upper range of normal weight, and 1,982 cases (44.2%) were normal. The
mean BMT was 23.7 kg/m2, range 13.8 to 49 kg/m2, and 15.1%, 6.4%, 3.5%, and 8.4% of the cohort were found to have HPV infection, HR HPV, PR HPV, and LR HPV, respectively. The BMT 25.00 to 29.99 kg/m2 (overweight) cohort had a statistically significantly lower OR of 0.66 (95% CT 0.47 to 0.93) for HR HPV infection compared with the normal BMT 18.50 to 22.99 kg/m2 cohort.

Conclusion: About half of the Thai women in this cohort had BMT in the upper range of normal to overweight and obese criteria. Overweight women had a lower rate of HR HPV infection than women with a normal weight.

Keywords: HPV, BMT, overweight, infection, protective factor