High-risk human papilloma virus prevalence and its relation with abnormal cervical cytology among Turkish women

In this study we aimed to investigate high-risk human papilloma virus (hrHPV) prevalence among Turkish women. Cervical samples were collected from 501 women for cytological screening and hrHPV testing by Digene Hybrid Capture 2. hrHPV prevalence and its relation with cytological results and epidemiologic data were analysed by SPSS. The prevalence of hrHPV was 4.2% (21 of the 501 women). Women with abnormal cytological screening results have significantly higher risk of hrHPV positivity compared with women with normal cytological results (19% vs 3.5%) (p ≤ 0.01). The incidence of HPV infection was only associated with the number of sexual partners, but there was no association with age, contraception methods or age at the first sexual intercourse. The prevalence of hrHPV among histological-confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1, CIN 2 and normal cases were found as 37.5%, 25% and 25%, respectively. The prevalence of cervical hrHPV infection is 4.2% in our population and this rate seems lower than reported rates from other regions. According to further studies with a larger sample size, reflex cytology based on hrHPV positivity should be considered for our national cervical cancer screening programme.