BACKGROUND: Persistent infection by HPV is now recognized as the main cause of cervical cancer. HPV prevalence data is not yet available in Iran. This study is organized to evaluate type-specific HPV prevalence and to compare it with Pap smear results among Iranian women attending regular gynecological visits. METHODS: A total of 851 women aged 18 - 65 years, attending regular gynecological visits, were retrospectively evaluated. HPV detection and genotyping was performed by use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). Cytological evaluation was done by Papanicolaou method and the association between cytological results and HPV status was analyzed. RESULTS: 19 different HPV types were detected in 265 of the 851 specimens (31.1%). Overall HPV infection as well as infection with High Risk (HR) HPV types was highest in women aged 18 - 25 years and decreased with age. Type-specific prevalence of HPV-16 and 18 was 7.3% and 2.8%, respectively, and a large number of women (20.2%) were infected by HR HPV types other than HPV-16 and/or HPV-18. There was also an upward trend in the prevalence of HR HPV infections as the abnormality in cytology increased. The prevalence of HPV co-infection was 29.1% of HPV positive patients and declined from LSIL (18.2%) to HSIL (3.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that the burden of HPV infection among Iranian females was higher in comparison with previous estimates reported from Iran. Furthermore, higher prevalence of premalignant changes in Iranian women infected with HR HPV types, other than vaccine types, should be considered in immunization programs and development of population-specific HPV vaccines. This remarkable difference in prevalence of HPV types among previous studies, confirms our need to further investigations on epidemiology of HPV infection in Iran.
BACKGROUND: Persistent infection by HPV is now recognized as the main cause of cervical cancer. HPV prevalence data is not yet available in Iran. This study is organized to evaluate type-specific HPV prevalence and to compare it with Pap smear results among Iranian women attending regular gynecological visits. METHODS: A total of 851 women aged 18 - 65 years, attending regular gynecological visits, were retrospectively evaluated. HPV detection and genotyping was performed by use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). Cytological evaluation was done by Papanicolaou method and the association between cytological results and HPV status was analyzed. RESULTS: 19 different HPV types were detected in 265 of the 851 specimens (31.1%). Overall HPV infection as well as infection with High Risk (HR) HPV types was highest in women aged 18 - 25 years and decreased with age. Type-specific prevalence of HPV-16 and 18 was 7.3% and 2.8%, respectively, and a large number of women (20.2%) were infected by HR HPV types other than HPV-16 and/or HPV-18. There was also an upward trend in the prevalence of HR HPV infections as the abnormality in cytology increased. The prevalence of HPV co-infection was 29.1% of HPV positive patients and declined from LSIL (18.2%) to HSIL (3.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that the burden of HPV infection among Iranian females was higher in comparison with previous estimates reported from Iran. Furthermore, higher prevalence of premalignant changes in Iranian women infected with HR HPV types, other than vaccine types, should be considered in immunization programs and development of population-specific HPV vaccines. This remarkable difference in prevalence of HPV types among previous studies, confirms our need to further investigations on epidemiology of HPV infection in Iran.