High-risk Human Papillomavirus Infection in Putian, China: A Cross-sectional Analysis of 98085 Women

Objective: To assess high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) infection among women undergoing cervical cancer screening in Putian for establishing an optimal cervical cancer screening mode and preventive vaccination strategy for HPV.Study Design: Cross-sectional study.Place and Duration of the Study: The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University for cervical cancer screening period, from August 2020 to December 2022.Methodology: Cervical cell specimens were obtained using 'two cancer screening platforms'. qRT-PCR and flow-FISH were used for hrHPV typing. The pathological diagnostic test was performed for the hrHPV-positive samples. The results concerning the relationships between hrHPV infection at different age groups and pathological diagnosis were analysed retro-spectively.Results: A total of 98085 hrHPV preliminary screening results in the Putian region and 9036 hrHPV-positive samples were included. The infection rate of hrHPV for the three infection modes increased with age. The 41-50 age group is the highest incidence which the phase from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia to cervical cancer. The top three hrHPV subtypes were HPV52, HPV58, and HPV16. The positive rate of HPV16 was positively correlated with the progression of cervical intraepithe-lial neoplasia.Conclusion: Effective screening, vaccination, and education must be provided because HPV infections are district-specific and age-specific. HPV16 is correlated with cervical cancer progression. Pathological diagnosis and prevention of cervical cancer infected with HPV16 must be conducted.