Background: Cervical cancer is strongly linked to high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) and is typically preceded by cytological abnormalities. Less is known in patients with normal cervical cytology (NCC). We investigated the epidemiology of HR-HPV among HIV-infected women with NCC.
Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional study between January and June 2011 among HIV-infected women with NCC at an adult HIV clinic in Jos, Nigeria. Cervical sampling and analysis for HR-HPV by hybrid capture (HC2) with signal amplification was done to determine presence of one or more of the following HR-HPV types: 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 or 68. Epidemiologic factors associated with HR-HPV were determined using bivariate statistics and multivariate logistic regression.
Results: We evaluated 103 HIV-infected women with Pap cytology. The median age of the women was 32 years (range 21-49). Ninety-seven (94.2%) had NCC. Cervical samples for HR-HPV DNA testing were available from 89/97 (91.8%) of the HIV-infected women with NCC. Of the 89 women with cervical samples for HR-HPV DNA testing, 40 (44.9%) had detectable HR-HPV by HC2 giving a HR-HPV prevalence of 44.9% (95% CI 33.9-55.5%). Age < 30 years was associated with HR-HPV (OR 2.69 [95% CI 1.05-6.91, p = 0.039]) while history of previous abortion showed an inverse association with HR-HPV (OR 0.33[95% CI 0.15-0.94, p = 0.039]).
Conclusion: The prevalence of HR-HPV is seemingly high among HIV-infected women with NCC in our clinical setting. These data provide support for further investigation of the clinical implications of positive HR-HPV among HIV-infected women with NCC report in cervical cancer prevention programs in Nigeria.