Prevalence and genotype distribution of human papillomavirus in outpatients and healthy female subjects in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

Abstract

Abstract The present study examined the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) and its genotype distribution in outpatients and healthy female subjects in Wenzhou so as to develop local HPV vaccination strategies and contribute to the prevention of this disease. The present retrospective study enrolled 164,137 women, including 118,484 outpatients and 45,653 healthy female subjects from 2015 to 2020. Cervical exfoliated cells were collected from these women for DNA extraction. The DNA samples were detected with a fluorescence in situ hybridization method and 27 HPV genotypes were analyzed. The overall prevalence of HPV was 17.35%; this corresponded to a prevalence of 19.10% in the outpatient group and 12.82% in the healthy female group. HPVs 52, 58, 16, 53, and 61 were the five most prevalent HPV genotypes in the outpatient group. The five most common genotypes were HPV 52, 53, 58, 61, and 81 in the healthy female group. The HPV infection peak was estimated to be 44.65% in the 10–19 age group and 27.35% in the 60–69 age group. The burden of HPV infection in this area was high; therefore, a scientific and reasonable vaccination strategy should be adopted. The universal use of multivalent vaccines is recommended and considerable attention should be paid to HPV types that are not targeted by the vaccines. Cervical screening should be performed routinely in patients with gynecological clinical symptoms to avoid cervical intraepithelial neoplasia following persistent infection of high-risk HPV, notably in women over 60 years of age.