Prevalence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) types among cervical dysplasia women attending a gynaecological clinic in Sweden

BJC Rep. 2023 Aug 22;1(1):11. doi: 10.1038/s44276-023-00012-y.

Abstract

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer. HPV-vaccines have led to a significant decrease in HPV-infections and related cancer cases. The estimation of the current HPV-prevalence and distribution of different HPV-types among women with cervical dysplasia is important for the future vaccination strategy.

Methods: By using a multiplexed bead-based immunoassay, we revealed the prevalence of 27 HPV-types in 168 dysplasia women aged 21-70 from Uppsala University hospital, Sweden.

Results: The prevalence of HPV in low-and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL and HSIL, respectively) were 56.3% and 76.7%, respectively. The oncogenic HPV-types constituted 80.0%, and 97.1% among the HPV-positive LSIL and HSIL-groups, respectively, with HPV16 as the most prevalent type. We found a reduction in oncogenic HPV-types covered by the bi- and quadrivalent vaccines in the vaccinated HSIL-group, suggesting the effectiveness of the HPV-vaccine in preventing dysplasia caused by the covered HPV-types. Oncogenic HPV-types 39 and 59, not covered by any current vaccine have an important prevalence among patients with cervical dysplasia.

Conclusions: Oncogenic-HPV-types are highly prevalent among women with HSIL. The current vaccine presents effectiveness for reducing the covered HPV-types among dysplasia patients.