Disclosure of HPV positivity and abnormal Pap findings to current sex partners among Latina women

Background: Little is known about women's likelihood of disclosing HPV positivity and motivations for disclosure. Objective: To describe predictors of current partner disclosure of HPV positivity among Latina women receiving care along the Mexico-Texas border. Methods: We conducted a cross–sectional survey in 2007-2008 among women aged 18-64 years. In-person interviews were conducted in English and Spanish (with response rate of 84%). Factors hypothesized to increase likelihood of telling a current sex partner about HPV / abnormal Pap test included demographics (e.g. age, education, acculturation), dynamics of the relationship (e.g. marital status, time in the relationship, number of other partners, fear of partner's response), HPV knowledge score, and patients' own reaction to HPV diagnosis. Results: Among those 365 Latina women with a current partner, 83.6% told this partner about the HPV / Pap finding. The following were associated with non-disclosure: being single, divorced or separated (p<0.0001), being afraid of the current partner's response (p<0.0001), and the woman having more than two current sex partners in the past year (p=.05; adjusting for marital status). Non-disclosure was not associated with lifetime numbers of partners of the current male partner. Acculturation defined as place of birth, interview language, and time in the USA among those born in Mexico was not associated with partner disclosure. Finally, neither HPV knowledge score nor the woman's negative reaction to being told she had HPV were associated with current partner disclosure. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that relationship factors are the strongest predictors of current partner disclosure.