Prevalence and Genotype of Human Papillomavirus Infection and Risk of Cervical Dysplasia among Asymptomatic Korean Women

Background: The persistence of infection by high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) may lead to cervical cancer. Recently, the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) announced that oncogenic HPV screening and the PAP smear are the main methods of screening for cervical cancer. The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence and genotyping of HPV, as well as the risk of cervical dysplasia. Methods: HPV genotyping was conducted by a commercial chip assay. Cervical dysplasia was retrospectively reviewed using electronic medical records. The study participants were grouped together according to cervical dysplasia status: ‘no dysplasia,’ ‘atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS),’ ‘low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL),’ and ‘high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL).’ The HPV prevalence and genotyping were analyzed according to the cervical dysplasia group. Results: The overall prevalence of HPV was 17.6% (91 out of 518 patients). HPV-18 (2.3%), HPV-16 (2.1%), and HPV-58 (1.2%) were the three most frequent genotypes. The prevalence of HPV infection and the high-risk HPV positive rate was higher in the ASCUS, LSIL, and HSIL groups than in the no dysplasia group (P<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, basic data regarding the prevalence and distribution of HPV genotypes were obtained. Since HPV vaccination has been actively encouraged among Korean women, a change in the prevalence of HPV and cervical dysplasia is expected in the future. This study provided basic data describing the prevalence of HPV and its genotypes in the pre-HPV vaccination era. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2013;16:87-91)