One third of patients who underwent colonoscopy at a single gastroenterology department were found to have anal canal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, with high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection in nearly 20% of patients and in a significantly higher proportion of patients with Crohn’s disease than without. Researchers analyzed anal tissue samples collected from 469 consecutive patients (mean age 54 years, 52% women), including 112 who received immunosuppressant therapies and 101 with inflammatory bowel disease (70 with Crohn’s disease), who underwent colonoscopy examinations from April 1, 2012 to April 30, 2015. They found:

• HPV DNA in anal tissues was detected from 34% of participants and HR-HPV in 18%.
• HPV16 was the most prevalent genotype.
• HR-HPV was detected in a significantly higher proportion of samples from women (23.1%) than men (12.1%).
• HR-HPV and HPV16 were also detected in a significantly higher proportion of patients with Crohn’s disease (30.0%) than without (18.1%).