The koilocyte and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: time-trend analysis of a recent decade

To determine whether the role of the human papillomavirus in the development of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia has changed recently, cervical biopsy specimens from the years 1972 and 1982 were reviewed to compare the frequency of diagnosis of human papillomavirus-associated koilocytosis in patients with suspected cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. No significant difference was found in the frequency of koilocytosis in biopsy specimens with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia between the years, koilocytosis being present in about half of the cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia during both years. In each year koilocytosis was more common in grades 1 and 2 lesions. Koilocytotic atypia without cervical intraepithelial neoplasia also was present in a relatively constant proportion of cases over the decade (8.0% and 6.5%). The average patient age was younger in 1982 than in 1972 (27.6 versus 32.6 years), but analysis of patients by age groups again showed no significant difference in the occurrence of koilocytosis. This study suggests that the relative importance of human papillomavirus in the evolution of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia has remained unchanged in the recent past.