Abstract
BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted agent, and it can cause cervical lesions and cancer in females. Currently, information regarding the prevalence of HPV in Cyprus is lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the HPV type-specific prevalence in 596 women, aged 19–65 years, with cytological abnormalities. Additionally, in a subset of 348 women for whom cytology results of the Pap test were available, the association between HPV infection and cervical disease was investigated.MethodsHPV detection and typing was carried out using PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, respectively.ResultsOverall, the HPV prevalence was 72.8%, and it was shown to be age dependent, with a decreasing prevalence until the age of 45 years (p = 0.0018, χ2). Two hundred and fifty-eight women (59.4%) were infected with high-risk HPV, 151 (34.8%) with low-risk HPV, and 25 (5.8%) with HPV types of unknown risk. The most common high-risk HPV type was HPV16 (17.7%), followed by HPV31 (12.9%), HPV58 (7.1%), HPV68 (4.6%), HPV18 (4.1%), and HPV56 (3.7%). Among the women for whom cytology results were available, 268 (77%) were HPV positive, with a sample distribution as follows: 188 (74%) had atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), 61 (85.9%) had low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (L-SIL), and 19 (82.6%) had high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (H-SIL). HPV16 was the most common type among women affected by L-SIL (19.7%) and H-SIL (15.8%), with HPV31 being the most common type in women affected by ASCUS (16.5%).ConclusionsThe present study provides the first epidemiological data related to HPV prevalence and type distribution in Cypriot women with cytological abnormalities.
Highlights
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted agent, and it can cause cervical lesions and cancer in females
The prevalence of Low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) types ranged from 37.4% in the youngest age group, to 33.7%, 32.9% and 35.8% in the age groups 26–35, 36–45, and ≥46 respectively (Table 1)
In conclusion, this study presents the first investigation into the prevalence of HPV infection and HPV genotype distribution in Cypriot women with abnormal cytological tests
Summary
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted agent, and it can cause cervical lesions and cancer in females. The aim of this study was to evaluate the HPV type-specific prevalence in 596 women, aged 19–65 years, with cytological abnormalities. In a subset of 348 women for whom cytology results of the Pap test were available, the association between HPV infection and cervical disease was investigated. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted pathogen in both men and women. It is estimated that approximately 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer are Currently, over 100 different HPV types have been described, and they can be further subdivided into low-risk and high-risk types according to their oncogenic potential [5]. Low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) types include HPV6, 11, 42, 43, and 44, which
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