Introduction The adolescence is a period marked by intense vulnerability, with a high prevalence of HPV, mostly of transient infections. We aimed to identify the population of adolescents infected with HPV and risk factors associated.

Methods A cross-sectional study evaluating adolescents (from 10 to 19 years of age) carried out from January to August 2012 at the major Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Reference Centre in Bahia, Brazil. Sociodemographic and clinical data were obtained by reviewing charts and analysed through SPSS 20.0.

Results Of the adolescents evaluated, 324 had the diagnosis of HPV, evidencing an HPV prevalence of 62.5%. Among those, the mean age was 16.8 (±1.5) years and the sexual debut occurred at 13.2 (±3.5) years of age. There was an association between the female gender and the diagnosis of HPV (p<0.01; OR 3.22, 95% CI 2.18–4.77), as well as to being 16 years old or older (p<0.01; OR 3.44, 95% CI 2.28–5.19). Regarding lifestyle, 25.6% (42/164) of HPV patients reported alcohol use, 8.1% (16/197) illicit drugs use and 2.2% (3/138) were smokers. There was a statistical correlation between having ≥8 years of schooling and HPV (p=0.02; OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.10–2.79), as well as working and the infection (p=0.01; OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.17–5.53). As for clinical characteristics, 15.8% (40/253) of HPV patients were pregnant during the study, with a significant association between pregnancy and the virus (p=0.02; OR 2.69, 95% CI 1.10–6.58). There was 91.9% (295/321) of clinical diagnosis of HPV, and 61.9% (199/321) of genital warts among the infected population. 90.9% (280/308) of the infected adolescents underwent treatment for HPV.

Conclusion The clinical and epidemiological profile of these adolescents revealed the need for prevention campaigns against STIs with accessible language, promoting access to information. Access to HPV vaccine is now possible, and it is still necessary to stimulate follow-up and treatment in order to reduce this infection and its associated diseases.