Prevalence of human papillomavirus in cervical scrapes, as analyzed by PCR, in a population-based sample of women with and without cervical dysplasia

Abstract

HPV is suspected of being a major cause of cancer of the uterine cervix. To understand the risk of disease in the general population of women, it is important to estimate the prevalence of HPV infection in a random population‐based sample of women without disease. In this study, a total of 231 randomly selected women without dysplasia (controls) were examined, and compared with 103 women with histologically confirmed CIN II–III (patients). The prevalence of HPV DNA in cervical scrapes was determined by general nested PCR, which was expected to detect any relevant HPV type commonly found in cervical samples. The nested positive samples were typed with type‐specific PCR. In the general nested PCR, 15% of the controls were positive, compared to 91% of the patients. In the population‐based sample, 2.2% had HPV types 6 and 11, and 10% had types 16, 18, 31, and 33. In both groups, HPV DNA was observed less frequently in women above than below the age of 30. The results are among the few population‐based figures on the prevalence of HPV in women, and provide a baseline for understanding the risk of developing cancer of the uterine cervix, and determining the proportion of women to be included in intervention studies.

Benefits and Costs of Using HPV Testing to Screen for Cervical Cancer

“…testing negative. 4,[101][102][103][104] In sensitivity analyses, we assumed that Pap 105,106 and HPV 58,70,80,81,107 screening performance varies by age.…”

“…Estimates of HPV test performance were calculated using summary receiver operating characteristic curve methods 4,108 and data from studies in the United States and developed countries that used PCR 34 or Hybrid Capture II 109,110 to detect oncogenic HPV. 23,47,70,[76][77][78][79][80][81]…”

Correlation between polymerase chain reaction and cervical cytology for detection of human papillomavirus infection in women with and without dysplasia

“…Gene amplification methods, including PCR primers, buffer, reaction components end cycling parameters, have been described in detail previously (8). In order to indicate the presence and availability of DNA in the sample, a region of the human Dglobin gene was initially amplified (17).…”

“…Finally, all the HPV 16 negative samples (48 samples) were tested with HPV 3311 6 type-specific primers. The type-specific primer sequences were taken from the variable E6 and E7 regions of the different HPV types (8). The amplified DNA was separated on a 2.0% agarose gel by electrophoresis and visualized by staining with ethidium bromide.…”

Epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections and human immunodeficiency virus in Europe

“…The epidemiology of HPV infection is now much better known due to the availability of more reliable DNA testing (polymerase chain reaction). The prevalence of HPV (all types) and of ‘high‐risk’ types in different population groups is shown in Table 4 26–31 …”