Evidence of synergistic relationships between HIV and Human Papillomavirus (HPV): systematic reviews and meta-analyses of longitudinal studies of HPV acquisition and clearance by HIV status, and of HIV acquisition by HPV status.

These results provide evidence for synergistic HIV and HPV interactions of clinical and public health relevance. HPV vaccination may directly benefit PLHIV, and help control both HPV and HIV at the population level in high prevalence settings. Our estimates of association are useful for mathematical modelling. Although observational studies can never perfectly control for residual confounding, the evidence presented here lends further support for the presence of biological interactions between HIV and HPV that have a strong plausibility.