Prevalence and Genotype Distribution of HPV Infection in China: Analysis of 51,345 HPV Genotyping Results from China's Largest CAP Certified Laboratory

Introduction: The prevalence of cervical Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection varies greatly worldwide and data regarding HPV prevalence and genotypes in China are limited.

Methods: HPV testing results were retrospectively examined at KingMed Diagnostics, the largest independent pathology laboratory in China, from January 2011 to June 2014. All testing was performed using the 26 HPV Genotyping Panel of Tellgenplex (TM) xMAP™ HPV DNA Test assay (TELLGEN, Shanghai, China). Overall prevalence, age-specific prevalence and genotype distributions were analyzed.

Results: A total of 51,345 samples were tested and the overall HPV prevalence was 26%, with 21.12% positive for high risk (HR) HPV and 8.37% positive for low risk HPV. 80% of HPV positive cases were positive for a single HPV type. The three most common HR HPV types detected were HPV-52, -16, and -58, in descending order. HPV-18 was only the 6(th) most common type. When women were divided into three age groups: <30, 30-49, ≥50 years, HR HPV had the highest prevalence rate in women <30 years, and the lowest rate in women 30-49 years of age. The distribution of HR HPV genotypes also varied among these three age groups.

Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is largest routine clinical practice report of HPV prevalence and genotypes in a population of women having limited cervical cancer screening. HPV-52 was the most prevalent HR HPV type in this population of women followed by HPV-16 and HPV-58. The overall and age-specific prevalence and genotype distribution of HR HPV are different in this Chinese population compared to that reported from Western countries.