Introduction Human papillomavirus is sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are among the most com­mon public health issues around the world. In women, HPV is strongly related to cervical, vaginal, vulvar, and anal cancers, and is also considered the agent respon­sible for precursor lesions.

Methods An observational, comparative study was conducted at the Clinic of Lower Genital Tract Diseases and Colposcopy, between January 2011 and January 2012. We included 75 patients who had genital lesions induced by HPV, already submitted to the respective treatments: 29 women with genital warts and 46 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia with high histological grade (CIN 2/3). The patient’s medical records were evaluated regarding the type of HPV infection-induced, as well as therapy. Patients included were initially asked about the epidemiological data, medical history, gynaecological, obstetric and sexual behaviours. Also, the impact of socioeconomic and sex-related disease and its treatment was recorded. After this initial interview, the SF-36v.2 and Quotient sex - female version (QS-F) was applied. Both women with genital warts as those with CIN 2/3 showed a reduction in their quality of life.

Results The results after evaluation of the SF-36 showed that patients with CIN 2/3 have the same score in the physical domain (p=0.246), pain (p=0.677), general health (p=0.109) and physical component (p=0.087) compared to patients with genital warts. However, patients with warts have statistically lower scores compared to patients with CIN 2/3 regarding the mental component (p=0.003), physical functioning (p<0.001), vitality (p=0.003), Social (p=0.027), emotional (p=0.031), mental health (p<0.001) domains.

Conclusion In relation to the sexual aspect it is important to say that patients with CIN 2/3 have statistically the same classification of sex ratio when compared to patients with genital warts (p=0.115). However, when performing specific questions about sexual parameters, warts caused a greater impact on sexual life of patients.