title: Pre-vaccination seroprevalence of 15 human papillomavirus (HPV) types among women in the population-based Slovenian cervical screening program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate seroprevalence of 11 high-risk (hr) HPV types and four low-risk (lr) HPV types among 20-64 years old Slovenian women participating in the population-based cervical cancer screening program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum samples from 3259 women were tested for HPV type-specific antibodies with a multiplexed pseudovirion-based serological assay (PsV-Luminex).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seropositivity for any of the 15 HPV types was 65.7%, any of the 11 hr-HPV types 59.2%, and any of the four lr-HPV types 33.1%. Antibodies against at least one of the four vaccine HPV types (HPV 6, 11, 16, 18) were detected in 40.8% women. Among hr-HPV types, seropositivity was highest for HPV 16 (25.2%) and among lr-HPV types for HPV 6 (19.1%). Age-specific HPV16 seropositivity was highest among 30-39 years old (29.6%) and decreased with increasing age to 14.0% among 60-64 years old.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lifetime sexual exposure to genital HPV types is substantial, emphasising the need for HPV vaccination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communicable Diseases and Environmental Threats, National Institute of Public Health, Trubarjeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Učakar
authors.forename: Mateja M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Jelen
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Faust
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poljak
authors.forename: Joakim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dillner
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Klavs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017524:Slovenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral
keywords: Cross-sectional study; HPV; Seroprevalence; Slovenia