Prevalence of Human Papilloma Virus Infection in Young Primiparous Women During Postpartum Period: Study from a Tertiary Care Center in Northern India

Abstract

Introduction: Assessment of high-risk Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) prevalence is important for monitoring long-term decrease in cervical cancer after implementation of the prophylactic HPV vaccination. Aim: To determine the prevalence of high-risk HPV infection and cytological abnormalities in young primiparous women in the age group of 16-26 years. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 214 primiparous women aged 16-26 years were recruited from a public tertiary health care center postpartum clinic between June 2013 and May 2014. Cytological analysis was performed by Pap smear test and patients underwent sampling with cervical brushes for HPV-DNA detection and typing by a PCRbased assay for HPV types 16, 18, 33 and 45. Results: High-risk HPV was detected in 41 (19.2%) women. HPV 16 was found to be most prevalent with 17 (7.9%) samples testing positive, followed by HPV 18 in nine (4.2%), HPV 45 in six (2.8%) and HPV 31 in four (1.8%) women. Five women tested positive for more than one HPV types. There were no cases of intraepithelial lesions or cervical cancer. One patient who had Atypical Cells of Undetermined Significance (ASCUS) on cytology tested negative for all four HPV genotypes. Conclusion: This study provides a geographic baseline data of high-risk HPV prevalence in young Indian women before implementation of a vaccination program. The results are important for comparison with other global regions and monitoring the effect of HPV vaccination.

Keywords

• cervical cancer
• epidemiology
• papanicolaou smear cytology
• polymerase chain reaction