Prevalence and type distribution of human papillomavirus in 5,000 British Columbia women—implications for vaccination

Abstract

Background Human papilloma virus (HPV) prevalence studies performed in different regions and population groups across Canada would inform public health decisions regarding implementation of anti-HPV vaccines. Methods A total of 8,700 liquid-based specimens from 8,660 women aged 13-86 from throughout British Columbia were collected. DNA was isolated from 4,980 of these samples and assessed for HPV prevalence and type distribution. HPV was detected by PCR analysis using tagged GP5?/6? consensus primers to amplify the L1 region of HPV; typing was done by bi-directional sequencing of PCR products. Results Overall HPV prevalence was 16.8% (age adjusted 15.5%). Prevalence of high-risk HPV was 13.9, and 10.7% of samples contained HPV16. HPV prevalence was highest in the youngest group of women (\20 years). Onethird of HPV positive samples contained more than one HPV type. Percentages of low-grade (LGIL) and highgrade intraepithelial lesions (HGIL) containing high-risk HPV are 52.3 and 79.4%, respectively. Conclusions Overall HPV prevalence in this study is within the range of estimates from other studies. The prevalence of HPV16 is higher than what is found in other Canadian and international studies. HPV16 and HPV18 compose a majority of the high-risk virus in this study. Use of current HPV vaccines could considerably reduce HPVrelated conditions including cervical cancer and procedures such as colposcopy.

Type-specific prevalence of Human Papillomavirus infection among women in the Northwest Territories, Canada

“…The assessment of HPV prevalence by age group revealed a higher prevalence in the younger age groups, which is consistent with the results of other studies [27,28,36,37]. This finding confirms what is already known about the natural history of HPV infection, which is characterized by higher infection rates after sexual initiation.…”

“…Similar to most European studies, the two most common HPV types detected in NWT were HPV16 and 31 [29][30][31][32]. The HPV16/18 prevalence in the NWT was lower than that observed in all similar studies in Canada [26][27][28] but was comparable to the prevalences observed in studies in Europe and the US [31,[33][34][35]. Several HR-HPV types other than HPV16/18, such as HPV31, 66, 39, 51 and 62, are relatively common in the NWT.…”

“…The HPV prevalences in both the Aboriginal (30.1%) and non-Aboriginal women (18.5%) in this study were slightly higher than those found in other studies of Aboriginal [25,26] and non-Aboriginal [27,28] populations in Canada performed using similar HPV-detection methods. The proportion of HR types among the HPV-positive women was lower than those found in British Colombia and Ontario but higher than that found in Quebec [26][27][28].…”

“…The proportion of HR types among the HPV-positive women was lower than those found in British Colombia and Ontario but higher than that found in Quebec [26][27][28]. Similar to most European studies, the two most common HPV types detected in NWT were HPV16 and 31 [29][30][31][32].…”

Human papillomavirus infection in a population‐based sample of women in Algiers, Algeria

“…15,16 Although comparisons are difficult because of the small number of young women, the age-specific curve of HPV prevalence in Algeria appeared to differ somewhat from the steep decrease seen after age 25 years in high-resource countries 17 and more to resemble the flat age curves reported previously in some low-resource countries in Asia and Africa. 4,14,17 There was even a suggestion (albeit not significant) that HPV prevalence might be higher in older generations of women.…”