Concordance of human papillomavirus genotypes in mailed home-based self-collected versus clinician-collected anal swabs among sexual and gender minority individuals
Jenna Nitkowski, Anna R. Giuliano, Tim Ridolfi, Elizabeth Chiao, Maria E. Fernandez, Vanessa Schick, Michael D. Swartz, Jennifer S. Smith, Alan G. Nyitray- Infectious Diseases
- Microbiology (medical)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Dermatology
Abstract
Background
Home-based self-sampling may be a viable option for anal cancer screening among sexual minority men (SMM). Yet limited research has compared home-based self-collected with clinician-collected anal swabs for human papillomavirus (HPV) genotyping.
Methods
The Prevent Anal Cancer Self-Swab Study recruited SMM and transgender persons 25 years and over in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA to participate in an anal cancer screening study. Participants were randomized to a home or clinic arm. Home-based participants were mailed an anal self-sampling kit to complete and return via postal mail. They were also asked to attend a clinic appointment where a clinician collected an anal swab. Swabs were HPV-genotyped using the SPF10-LiPA25 assay. We analyzed 79 paired self and clinician swabs to determine HPV prevalence, percent agreement, and sensitivity and specificity of the mailed home-based anal self-swab to detect HPV genotypes using the clinician-collected swab as the reference.
Results
The median number of days between the home and clinic swab was 19 days (range = 2 to 70). HPV was detected in 73.3% of self and 75.0% of clinician anal swabs (
Conclusions
Mailed home-based self-collected and clinician-collected anal swabs demonstrated high concordance for HPV genotyping.