title: Population-based prevalence, type- and age-specific distribution of HPV in women before introduction of an HPV-vaccination program in Denmark.
abstract: Knowledge about the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) on a population level is important. We conducted a large population-based study in Denmark to determine the overall and age-specific HPV prevalence, and HPV type distribution in women. Liquid-based cytology samples (SurePath) were collected consecutively. HPV testing was performed with Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2; Digene) (high-risk and low-risk probes), and LiPA (Innogenetics) was used for genotyping. We analyzed samples from 11,617 women; 94.0% had normal cytology, 4.3% atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and 1.6% had high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). The HPV prevalence was 26.4% with a peak in women 20-24 years (50.2%) and then decreased without a second peak in older women. Among the youngest women (15-19 years), 14% had HPV 16/18 and 16% had HPV 6/11. Prevalence of high-risk HPV types increased from 19.2% in women with normal cytology to 100% in women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3)/cervical cancer. HPV 16 was the most prevalent type (6.0% of all women), and was also the most prevalent in women with HSIL (35.1%) and CIN3 (53.2%). Other common HPV types in women with CIN3 included HPV 52, 51, 31, 33 and 18. HPV 16/18 alone was present in 23% of CIN3 lesions and 67% of cervical cancers, and HPV 16/18 together with other high-risk HPV types was present in 41% of CIN3 lesions. This suggests that an efficacious HPV 16/18 vaccine will have a substantial preventive potential in the general female population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virus, Hormones and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Susanne K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kjaer
authors.forename: Gabrielle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Breugelmans
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Munk
authors.forename: Jette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Junge
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iftner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D052685:Alphapapillomavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015995:Prevalence; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology; D014611:Vaccination; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines