For what it's worth, though mine was HPV+, I had NO known risk factors for either cancer or HPV. There's a list of ways one can catch HPV, and I don't fit any of them. (Yes, I am married with kids, but we were both not active at all until marriage. So ... nobody to catch anything from, because no previous partners to have caught anything from. Which is TMI but some doctors seem to need that spelled out.) So it appears that there are other ways to catch HPV than are currently recognized by the general medical community. That, and my so-quick recurrence, are what prompted my doctors to hit it HARD with rads and chemo that second time, even though the cancer itself didn't warrant such aggression. Doctors don't like things that baffle them, I have learned.

Even the family genetics are iffy on this one ... have some relatives who got cancer, but not till their 80s, which they say doesn't count (and since those same relatives are in and approaching 100s, clearly didn't slow them down, either).

I do have an issue with anxiety disorders and related illness, which might be the one contributing risk factor for me. Several years of non-stop throwing up from panic attacks had to leave some damage somewhere, though I would have expected it to be the throat (and that's sure showing now, post-rads!). But other than that ... nothing that anyone can pin down.

So if you broaden your parameters to HPV+ but no known risk factors there, you might be able to find something? Would your doctor consider a new study including that? I'd be happy to provide data if it helped. That's probably a separate study in itself, really, but it baffles me ... and since it comes with its own set of judgments from folks, not something I generally discuss when people ask, "Why? How did it happen?" (as if it matters anyway, once the cancer is there!).

Anyway, ((hugs)) and good luck with your research!