Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus Infection in Women Attending a Gynecology/Oncology Clinic in Qatar

Abstract

Aim: Human papillomavirus (HPV) detection is very important for the evaluation of prevention strategies in cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of high-risk HPV infection in a cohort of Qatari residents, and correlate this with cytology and potential risk factors. Method: The study utilized cervical cytology and HPV DNA testing methods, high-risk screen real-time PCR, to detect high-risk HPV genotype infections in a sample of Qatar’s female population. A series of 95 women attending the Gynecology/Oncology Clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation between August 2007 and May 2008 were enrolled in the study. Cervical smears isolated from patients were subjected to real-time PCR to confirm the presence of HPV DNA. The smears were characterized as atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS); low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LGSIL) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HGSIL). As a secondary outcome, risk factors for HPV infection were also assessed. However, the samples were not case-controlled for these. Results: A total of 28 women had normal smears and 65 had abnormal smears. Among the 65 women in the study population with abnormal smears, 33 had ASCUS (18 of them were HPV DNA positive), 21 had LGSIL (18 were HPV DNA positive), eight had HGSIL (four were HPV DNA positive) and the remaining three had squamous cell carcinoma (two were HPV DNA positive). Conclusion: The overall prevalence of high-risk HPV in our study population (n = 95) was 64%. The relatively high prevalence of HPV 52, 56 and 16 among the study group has important implications in vaccine prophylaxis in Qatar.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection: Molecular Epidemiology, Genotyping, Seroprevalence and Associated Risk Factors among Arab Women in Qatar

“…The questionnaire was prepared on the basis of a previous study conducted in Qatar (S1 Questionnaire) [20]. Other data from medical records include age, nationality, clinical history, and cytological diagnosis were collected for each subject.…”

High-risk human papillomavirus infection among women with pap smear tests negative for intraepithelial lesions or malignancy

“…The HR-HPV positive patients could have any (one or more) of the 13 types of HR-HPV (16,18,31,33,35,39,45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, and 68), while nine (18%) of them the result was deemed invalid "or HPV could not be detected even if presents for those patients and in order to confi rm the presence or absence of HR-HPV infection the test should be repeated, this was not possible in our study due to limited budgeting. The rest of the patients (72%) had the HPV DNA detection test negative for the 13 types of HR-HPV.…”

“…The Target amplified is a sequence of nucleotides within the polymorphic L1 region of HPV genome, the amplifi cation was done using a mix of HPV primers designed to amplify HPV DNA from 13 HR-HPV (16,18,31,33,35,39,45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, and 68) An additional primer pair targets the human -globin gene to provide a control for cell adequacy, extraction, and amplifi cation.…”

“…[7,8] Recently, with newer sophisticated techniques for HPV detection, HPV could be eventually identifi ed in virtually all (99.7%) adequate cervical cancer samples. [1,9] The most frequently occurring HPV types in invasive cervical cancers (ICCs) are HPV 16,18,58,33,45,31,52,35,59, 39, 51, 56, and 68. HPV 16 and/or 18 were associated with 73% of all cervical cancer cases.…”

“…[2] Some studies in Riyadh (KSA) and Qatar have showed a prevalence of 31.8 [17] and 64% in these two countries, respectively. [18] Early detection of cervical cancer, which can be achieved by regular screening, offers the chance to a more effective treatment. The aim of screening program is to fi nd cancer at an earlier stage by identifying the initial molecular and cellular changes that occur in malignant cells.…”