title: Natural history of persistent high-risk human papillomavirus infections in Korean women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This prospective study was performed to evaluate the clearance of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and incidence of cytologic abnormality and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) during the follow-up of persistent infection in Korean women.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 4170 women who were screened for cervical cancer, were aged 30 years or older, had no abnormal last Pap smear results for 3 years, had no history of treatment for cervical neoplastic disease, and were not pregnant were analyzed for high-risk HPV prevalence using the Hybrid capture (HC) II assay. The 224 women with normal cytology but positive for high-risk HPV DNA using the HC-II assay were analyzed for their clearance of HPV infection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median time to clearance in women with initially normal cytology was 7.5 months from initial detection (95% CI, 5.2-9.8 months). There were significant differences in the median time to clearance (4.5 vs. 14.5 months, p<0.001) of high-risk HPV infection between women with the initial relative light unit/cutoff (RLU/CO) ratio values <10.0 and >or=10.0, as determined by the HC-II assay. In Kaplan-Meier analysis, probability of development of cytologic abnormalities, CIN and high-grade CIN was 38.2%, 21.7% and 8.5% respectively at 24 months of persistent high-risk HPV infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence and clearance of high-risk infection in Korean women was similar to that in Western countries. Persistent high-risk HPV infection was associated with high viral load.
authors.affiliation: Center for Uterine Cancer, National Cancer Center, 111 Jungbalsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jaeman
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.affiliation: Center for Uterine Cancer, National Cancer Center, 111 Jungbalsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: ssseomd@ncc.re.kr.
authors.forename: Sang-Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul National University Hospital, 28 Yongun-dong, Seoul, 110-744, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Research Institute, National Cancer Center, 111 Jungbalsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seung-Myung
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Center for Uterine Cancer, National Cancer Center, 111 Jungbalsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sokbom
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer Prevention and Detection, National Cancer Center, 111 Jungbalsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seung-Kwon
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Myung
authors.affiliation: Center for Uterine Cancer, National Cancer Center, 111 Jungbalsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sang-Yoon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000235:genetics; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D019562:Viral Load; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral