Human Papillomavirus Genotype Distribution in a Hospital-based Single-Center Study

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is reported as one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide in women. There is a substantial connection between cervical diseases and infection with Human Papillomavirus (HPV), especially Types 16 and 18 of HPV. Objective: This study aimed to assess the HPV genotype distribution to determine its most common type at a referral hospital in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 women with positive HPV result tests who visited the gynecologic oncology clinic of Baqiyatallah Hospital from 2017-2021. Results: The average age of subjects was 37.46±9.75 years (range=19-74). About 167 (41.8%) of the patients were between 25 to 35 years. The analysis showed that 137 (34.2%) patients had only low-risk (LR) typing, 129 (32.2%) patients had only high-risk (HR) typing, and 134 (33.5%) patients had both HR and LR typing. The most frequent LR HPV types were HPV 6 (18.5%) and 11 (17%), and the most frequent HR HPV types were HPV-16 (14.7%), 52 (8.2%), 18, and 31 (6.5%). Conclusion: This study showed that the most frequent age category in both low- and HR HPVpositive women is the age 25 to 35 years. The second most common HR-HPV subtypes included HPV-52, not HPV-18, which indicates variations in HR-HPV subtypes in different populations and races and warrants further research.