Prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus infections and cervical pathology in women with ASC-US cervical cytology

Abstract

Background and aims: This study identified the prevalence of high-risk human papillomaviruses (hrHPV) and pathological diagnosis variation among patients with ASC-US. Materials and Methods: This Cross-sectional descriptive study recruited 569 female participants aged 21-68 years who attended Tu Du Hospital from 10/2019 to 12/2020 and performed PAP smear tests diagnosed as ASC-US. Results: The prevalent rate of hrHPV infection was 44.8%. Regardless of HPV 16 and HPV 18, the infection rate of the remaining hrHPV was predominant (71.4%, 182/255), followed by the 10.6% of HPV 16 and the 4.3% HPV 18. Among 175 patients having cervical pathology, the rate of squamous cell carcinoma, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia CIN 1, CIN 2, and CIN 3 was 1.15%, 4.0%, 5.7%, and 1.15%, respectively. HPV 16 was present in all patients (2/2, 100%) who developed squamous cell carcinoma, and in six of twelve patients (50%) who acquired CIN 2 and 3. The subjects who had been exposed to more than one hrHPV genotype (HPV 16, HPV 18, and others) were diagnosed CIN 2 (40.0%). Despite the high likelihood of infection with other HPVs other than HPV 16 and 18 (75.9%), the majority of participants had normal cervical histology. Conclusion: Patients carrying hrHPV with ASC-US seem to appear diverse histopathological findings in which the incidence of CIN2+ accounts for a large proportion (8%). Key words: ASC-US, high-risk HPV, CIN, cervical cancer.