Background: To study the incidence, persistence, and determinants of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in a population of Inuit women from Nunavik, Quebec, by overall HPV infection, Alphapapillomavirus (α) species, and oncogenic risk grouping.
Methods: We recruited a cohort of Inuit women living in communities in Nunavik when they presented for routine care. Baseline sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics were collected and cervical specimens collected throughout the follow-up period were tested for HPV-DNA using the PGMY Line-blot assay.
Results: A total of 416 women were eligible for this analysis. Almost 40% of women acquired a new any-type HPV infection, at a rate of 14.44 infections per 1000 women-months. High-risk HPV infections were acquired at a higher rate than low-risk infections and persisted for longer durations. Multivariate logistic regression found age and marital status to be the most important predictors of overall HPV infection acquisition. Over the study period, 36.1% of women cleared their incident infections. The cumulative incidence of any HPV type at 12 months was 10.3% (95% confidence interval, 7.9-13.1). No predictors of clearance were found.
Conclusions: The high incidence and persistence of HPV infections found demonstrate that this population is at high risk for HPV infection. These data provide a deeper understanding of the HPV infection experience of Inuit women, but they may also help evaluate vaccination strategies currently used for this high-risk population.