Condyloma acuminata in spouses of patients with genital warts in northern Iran: A cross-sectional study

Background: Genital warts are one of the most common viral sexually transmitted diseases in the world. They are caused by different human papilloma viruses and lesions may have benign to malignant transformation. The main purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of condyloma acuminata in the spouses of patients with genital warts. Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 153 patients with genital warts and their spouses who were referred to dermatology and gynecology clinics of Babol University of Medical Science (North of Iran) between 2009 and 2012. All cases were clinically examined by dermatologists and gynecologists. After obtaining consent, the data including patients’ sex and age, genital wart in the spouse, history of warts in other sites of the body, positive family history of all forms of warts, smoking, addiction, alcohol consumption, and OCP use were collected via a questionnaire and analyzed with t and chi-square tests. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: In this study, 100 (65.4%) patients were women and 53 (34.6%) were men. Genital warts were detected in 25.5% of the spouses. The mean age of the patients and their spouses was 30.2±8.7 and 31.5 ±7.4 years, respectively. There was no significant correlation between age and genital wart in the spouse. Conclusion: The results showed that genital warts are a relatively highly infectious disease. Our recommendation for prevention of genital warts is education and clinical examination of the patients’ spouses.