Introduction. The aim of the study was to confirm the association between
human papillomavirus infection and atypical cervical squamous cells.
Material and Methods. This cross-sectional study, conducted in the period
from January 2016 to June 2017, included 128 sexually active women, aged 20
to 59 years with squamous cell abnormalities of the cervical cytology, who
came to their annual gynecological exam at the University Clinic of
Gynecology and Obstetrics in Skopje. All patients underwent human
papillomavirus testing and colposcopic cervical biopsy with endocervical
curettage for histopathological analysis. Results. Data analysis showed an
increase in the human papillomavirus infection alongside with cytological
(p = 0.029296) and histopathological (p = 0.029443) increasing grades of
cervical lesions. It showed an association between the oncogenic potential
of the virus and the cytological (p = 0.000086) and histopathological (p =
0.00001) grades of cervical lesions. A human papillomavirus infection was
detected in 75.00% of the examined women. The relationship between the
prevalence of high-risk and low-risk human papillomavirus genotypes was
56.25%: 10.94%. Mixed human papillomavirus infection was detected in 32.03%
of all patients, in 42.71% of human papillomavirus positive patients. The
most common human papillomavirus genotypes, in descending order, were human
papillomavirus-16 (43.75%), human papillomavirus-31 (15.62%), human
papillomavirus-18 10.4%), human papillomavirus-45 (9.37%), human
papillomavirus-33 (7.29%), etc. Conclusion. This study has confirmed an
association between human papillomavirus infection and squamous cell
abnormalities of the uterine cervix. Young women under 30 years of age were
the most affected group.
Pre-vaccination Prevalence and Genotype Distribution of Human Papillomavirus Infection among Women from Urban Tunis: a Cross-sectional Study
