Prevalence of HPV and associated factors in a population of women living in southern Brazil

Objective To determine the prevalence of HPV and investigate factors associated with the infection in women in the city of Francisco Beltrao, southwest Parana, attending the public health system. Methods This cross-sectional study included 324 women, aged between 18 and 65 years, who were attending public health services for routine gynecological consultation. Interviews were conducted to obtain information about socioeconomic, sexual, gynecological, and life habits. After performing the Papanicolaou test, endocervical brush was employed to detect HPV by polymerase chain reaction with the primers MY09-MY11. Results The prevalence of HPV was 6.8%, out of which 58.3% presented with cytopathologic alterations. And the presence of current cervical alterations can increase the chances of having HPV by almost 33 times (ORadj: 32.688; p < 0.001), recent vaginal infection increased the chances of HPV infection by 2.7 times (ORadj: 2.773; p = 0.04). The non-white ethnicity increased HPV infection chances threefold (ORadj: 3.058; p = 0.039). Conclusion The main finding was low prevalence of HPV infection. Factors that may be linked to HPV infection were cervical alterations, recent vaginal infection, and women's ethnicity.