Cervical high‐risk human papillomavirus infection among women residing in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: Prevalence, type‐specific distribution, and correlation with cervical cytology

Abstract

BACKGROUND:The scarcity of updated data on the prevalence of cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries hampers the establishment of cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination programs. The current study estimated the prevalence of cervical high-risk (HR) HPV infection among women residing in some countries of the GCC and analyzed the correlation between HR-HPV infection types and cytology results. METHODS:In total, 2478 women residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain were enrolled in this study. Cervical specimens were subjected to simultaneous liquid-based cytology and HR-HPV DNA analysis. RESULTS: Of 2478 women, 520 (21%) tested positive for HR-HPV. Other non-HPV genotype 16 (HPV16)/HPV18 HR-HPV was the most frequently detected infection type, accounting for 63.7%. Non-Arab women had a significantly higher HR-HPV positivity rate compared with Arab women (31.6% vs 16.4%; P < .001). The HR-HPV positivity rate was highest among women residing in Qatar (31.3%), followed by women living in Bahrain (20%), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (17.2%), and the United Arab Emirates (14.7%). The overall prevalence of HR-HPV infections declined significantly with advancing age (P < .001). Women with abnormal cytology had a significantly higher HR-HPV positivity rate than those with normal cytology (50.6% vs 14.7%; P < .001). The HR-HPV positivity rate increased as the severity of the cytological lesion increased. CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides updated data on HR-HPV prevalence in the GCC countries and delivers an evidence base for supporting the introduction of regional/national vaccination and screening programs in these countries.

Type-specific Distribution of Cervical hrHPV Infection and the Association with Cytological and Histological Results in a Large Population-based Cervical Cancer Screening Program: Baseline and 3-year Longitudinal Data

“…Therefore, findings from the current study supported the guidelines above 7 , and provided a basis for the establishment of regional cervical cancer screening programs. Moving forward, consistent with results from prior studies 10 , 27 , HPV prevalence increased with the aggravation of cytological grades. Additionally, HPV16 infection was more likely associated with more-severe cytological abnormality than Other hrHPV infection.…”

“…Detailed information on prevalence of each combination of HPV/cytology results was also described. The prevalence of HPV-positive/normal cytology result was reported ranged from 1.9% to 9.8% (Here was 7.5%) [10,18,27] . This is one of the most common positive screening results encountered in daily practice [28] and more than twice that of HPV-positive/abnormal cytology results (Here was 3.6%) [7] .…”

Cervical cancer: Automation of Pap test screening

“…The prevalence of hrHPV can be 12% to 53%, depending on geographical location, socio‐cultural and religious traditions 96‐100 . This fraction has a positive correlation of hrHPV with an abnormal smear of 50% to 85%, according to international studies 101,102 .…”

Human Papillomavirus Infection and Cervical Dysplasia in a Subset of Arab American Women

“…19 HPV genotype 16 and 18 have been identified as the predominant oncogenic types, causing ∼70% of all cervical cancer cases worldwide. 20 However, there is limited to no data on seroprevalence across the Middle East. To our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to look at seroprevalence among a subset of AA women who recently immigrated to the U.S. population-based studies to determine which serotypes are more common among this ethnicity are encouraged, as such knowledge may play a role in vaccine development and treatment.…”