Relative frequency of human papillomavirus genotypes and related sociodemographic characteristics in women referred to a general hospital in Tehran, 2014-2015: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the major public health problems and the main causes of cervical cancer. The prevalence HPV infection in developing countries with low financial resources is high. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the relative frequency of HPV genotypes and its sociodemographic characteristics in women referred to a general hospital in Tehran, Iran from 2014-2015. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was performed in 400 women with Pap smear samples, referring to to a general hospital in Tehran, Iran from 2014-2015. The detection of 28 HPV genotypes was performed by using the Multiplex PCR technique. The sociodemographic survey was conducted for each HPV positive woman. RESULTS HPV-positive infection was detected in 155 (38.75%) women aged 17-85 years. HPV 16 (19.1%) was the most prevalent type, followed by HPV 39 (12.5%) and HPV 18 (8.9%). The highest rate of HPV infection was observed at the age of 36 years (7.7%). The level of education and economic situation of each woman were showed most of HPV-positive women had a high school diploma (34.6%) and average economic situation (67,9%). 60.9% of these women were a housewife, and 67.3% lived in the capital . CONCLUSION Determination of HPV genotype and risk factor related to HPV infection in each geographical region can lead to the production of effective vaccines against the HPV virus. It can also be useful for disease management and high sensitivity diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.