Prevalence and age-wise distribution of Human Papillomavirus type 16/18 infections among hospital screened women of a peri-urban area in West Bengal: Impact of socio-demographic factors

Publication date: June 2018
Source:Cancer Epidemiology, Volume 54
Author(s): Amrapali Bhattacharya, Shrinka Sen, Paramita Mandal, Sweta Sharma Saha, Somosree Sarkar, Om Prakash Pathak, Lena Biswas, Jayeeta Roy, Rimpa Banerjee, Ranita Roy Chowdhury, Manidip Pal, Ankur Mukherjee, Sharmila Sengupta
BackgroundWe undertook the current study on cervical Human Papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence along with cytology in women visiting the Gynecology Out-patient Department of a hospital for common gynecological ailments, subsequent to our earlier population-based study on HPV prevalence from India.MethodsWe analyzed data on cervical-cytology (Pap smears) and PCR-based molecular detection of HPV infection along with socio-demographic variables (N = 696).ResultsWe identified 36.84% HPV-positive women amongst whom, HPV16 and 18 together predominated (79.37%) over other HPV types (20.63%). Contrarily, only 6.4% women revealed abnormal cytological lesions, of which, 46.51% were HPV-positive and 95% of such women harbored HPV16/18, while 5% harbored other HPV types. Individuals with normal cytology portrayed 36.09% HPV infections, of which, 77.97% were HPV16/18-positive and 22.03% harbored other HPV types. Overall HPV prevalence decreased significantly (ptrend  = 0.047) with increase in age, but HPV16/18 infections were significantly over-represented compared to the other HPV types across all age-groups. Specifically, HPV16 prevalence increased (p trend < 0.01) with increase in severity of cervical lesions. HPV16 prevalence did not differ between the Hindus and Muslims but HPV18 was significantly higher among the cytologically normal Muslim women (24.14%, p = 0.02), compared to the Hindus (11.91%), specifically among those ≥ 30 years of age. There was a significant (p < 0.05) overrepresentation of HPV16 prevalence among women who were users of oral contraceptive-pills, irrespective of cytology.ConclusionsOur study highlights the need for HPV16/18-based screening of cervical cancers in India considering the immense socio-cultural and genetic diversity at the population level.

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