The frequency of Human Papilloma Virus infection and its genotypes in patients referred to Tabriz Imam Reza hospital with abnormal pap smear, 2018-2020

Abstract

Human papillomavirus is one of the basic problems of public health and the primary cause of cervical neoplasia. Determining the prevalence of HPV and its common genotypes in each geographical area can lead to effective prevention methods and the production of effective vaccines. Also, this can be effective in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia diagnosis and disease management for better decision-making regarding the treatment plan. The studies conducted in Iran show the high burden of HPV infection in Iranian women and its increasing rate. The purpose of implementing this plan is the epidemiological study of HPV infection in the northwest of Iran and to examine its differences with other regions of Iran, in line with better policies in this area. Methodology and Materials: In this study, all women aged 15-74 years who referred to the pathology department of Imam Reza Hospital for Pap smear and were tested for HPV during 4 years were examined. The samples of this study were subjected to HPV genotyping if the test was positive. All these items were extracted using the full count method. HPV genotyping data were also recorded. Positive and negative cases were determined in this way and the frequency of infection with human papillomavirus was calculated in general and in different age groups. Then the genotype of each positive case was determined and the frequency of each genotype was calculated. Results: A total of 518 samples completed the study. The prevalence of HPV infection was 19.7%. High-risk genotypes were more common than low-risk genotypes with a prevalence of 14.7%. The highest prevalence of HPV infection was in the age group of 25-34 years (21.5%). No significant relationship was observed between patients' age and HPV infection. The most common genotype was type 16 with an overall prevalence of 4.1%. The 5 common high-risk genotypes were types 16, 66, 39, 51 and 56, respectively. There were 30 cases of co-infection, which is equal to 29.41% of all positive cases, and in 28 cases at least one of the HPV types belonged to high-risk types. The most common genotype in cases of co-infection was type 51. Based on the available data, the average age of the studied patients was 35.17 ± 8.1 and the average age of HPV-positive patients was 33.66.