Prevalence of HPV infection among 157,038 Chinese females in Hunan Province, central-south China: Research article

Abstract Background: In the present study, we aimed to investigate the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection rate in females of Hunan Province, China, as well as the common HPV genotype distribution. Moreover, we also explored the differences in HPV infections among females of different ages. Methods: Clinical data were collected from 157,038 females who had tested HPV infection in the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from November, 2010 to May, 2017. Results: The overall HPV infection rate was 19.91%.The most commonly detected genotypes were HPV52 (4.62%), HPV16 (3.52%), HPV 58(3.12%), HPVCP8304 (2.91%), and HPV53 (2.06%). The highest infection rate was found in females under the age of 20 (30.33%), the second highest infection rate was found in females over the age of 60 (24.72%), and females aged 30-39 showed the lowest HPV infection rate (18.11%). In addition, 71.32% of the infections were single HPV infections. Among the multiple HPV infections, HPV16/HPV6 co-infection was the most commonly detected combination (0.52%). Conclusions: In this study, we examined the epidemiology of HPV and the prevalence of the common HPV infection in Hunan Province, central-south China. We have revealed the prevalence and distribution of the different HPV types. Our study showed that females under the age of 20 and over the age of 60 were at higher risk of HPV infection than females of other ages. Moreover, our region should make extra efforts to the prevention and treatment of HPV52, HPV16 and HPV58 infections.