Performing oral s*x on 5 or more women increases risk of head and neck cancers, study

Men who have performed oral sex on five or more partners are at a higher risk of developing HPV-related head and neck cancer, a new study shows.

According to the study, those who smoke and have oral sex with five or more partners are the most likely to develop Oropharyngeal cancer that can be triggered by exposure to the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is a common cause of cervical cancer in women.

While the current rate of diagnoses is low - affecting just 0.7 percent of the male population - researchers at Johns Hopkins warned men may not be aware that they have a far higher risk than women, especially if they smoke.

The study, is the latest piece of evidence to show that boys do need the HPV vaccine as much as girls - and in some cases it is more pressing for males.

When the vaccine was first rolled out, it was only provided to teenage girls to protect them from HPV-related cervical cancer.

But data suggest the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer will overtake cervical cancer in the US by 2020 - and sexually active men have a high risk.

And the lowest risk group were those who had one or no oral sex partners in their lifetimes, with only 1.5 per cent of them getting an oral HPV infection. This rises to four per cent among non-smokers with two to four oral sex partners.

The risk was much lower among women, anyone who did not smoke, and people who had less than five oral sex partners in their lifetimes.

One of the authors of the study, Dr Amber D'Souza, said cases of head and neck cancer are predicted to overtake cervical cancer by 2020 and said that, because of this, an effective screening process was crucial.

Researchers analysed data from 13,089 people, aged 20-69.They used the numbers of oropharyngeal cancer cases and deaths from US registries to predict the risk of cancer from oral HPV infection.

There are over 100 different kinds of HPV but only a few are known to cause cancer. HPV 16 or 18, for example, is known to cause most cervical cancer, and HPV 16 also triggers oropharyngeal cancer.

The study is published in the journal Annals of Oncology.