Human papillomavirus infections among women with cervical lesions and cervical cancer in Yueyang, China: A cross-sectional study of 3674 women from 2019 to 2022

PURPOSE To investigate the distribution of the incidence and genotypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) among women with cervical cancer (CC) and precancerous cervical lesions in Yueyang City, China, to develop prevention and control strategies for CC. METHODS 3674 patients with cervical lesions diagnosed by pathology as a gold standard at 7 hospitals in Yueyang City between September 2019 and September 2022 were selected. They included 1910, 718, 576, and 470 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) I, CIN II, CIN III, and CC, respectively. A cross-sectional study combining HPV test results from these cases. RESULTS The total HPV prevalence was 74.69% (95%CI: 73.28–76.09%) in 3674 patients. The incidence of high- and low-risk HPV was 73.46% and 7.21%, respectively. The prevalence of HPV in CIN I, CIN II, CIN III, and invasive CC (ICC) groups was 66.65% (1273/1910, 95%CI: 64.53–68.77%), 80.78% (580/718, 95%CI: 77.89–83.67%), 83.88% (483/576, 95%CI: 80.84–86.87%), and 86.81% (408/470, 95%CI: 83.74–89.88%), respectively. The top three HPV subtypes in ICC are HPV16, HPV52, and HPV58. The prevalence of HPV 16 increased with increasing disease severity, with this genotype being present in 12.57%, 20.89%, 36.98%, and 50.85% of CIN I, CIN II, CIN III, and ICC cases, respectively ( p  < 0.001). Single HPV infection was predominant in cervical lesions, with a prevalence of 48.50% (95%CI: 46.89–50.12%). The HPV prevalence varied by age, being highest among women with ICC, CIN I, CIN II and CIN III aged ≥ 60 years, 50 to 59 years, 40 to 49 years, and 40 to 49 years, respectively. CONCLUSION The prevalence of HPV in patients with cervical lesions in Yueyang City was very high, with HPV 16, 52, 58, 53, and 51 being the five most common HPV genotypes in patients with cervical lesions. These results serve as data for supporting future vaccination and screening programs.