Prevalence of HPV 16/18 Infection: A Hospital-Based Study

Purpose The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 infection among the women attending the gynecological outpatient clinic at SMGS Hospital and to find out the correlation between cervical cytology and HPV DNA testing. Materials and Methods Women with >= 30 years of age visiting the gynecology outpatient with varied complaints were subjected to Pap smear. In total, 300 samples were subjected to PCR using consensus primer for HPV. The samples that were positive for HPV DNA were subsequently assessed for HPV types 16 and 18. Results Out of 300 patients, 113 (37.6 %) women tested positive for HPV DNA and out of 113 HPV-positive samples 23 (7.66 %) tested positive for high-risk HPV, i.e., HPV 16 (5 samples) and HPV 18 (18 samples). A statistically higher prevalence of HPV was observed in rural, low socioeconomic and poorly educated group. No association of HPV prevalence was noted with parity, age at marriage and age at first child birth. Increase in HPV prevalence was observed with the increase in abnormality in cervical cytology. HPV infection was present in 18.91 % of women with normal cytology, 31.11 % in inflammatory smear, 32.14 % in ASCUS, 54.16 % in LSIL, 77.77 % in HSIL and 100 % in cancer cervix patients. HPV 16/18 infection was present in 1.35 % of women with normal cytology and 20.63 % of women with abnormal cytology report. Conclusions The study generates epidemiological data of prevalence of subclinical HPV in the women visiting a tertiary care institute. The data generated will be useful for laying guidelines for mass screening of HPV, treatment and prophylaxis in the local population.