Prevalence of Genotype-specific Human Papillomavirus Infection and Cervical Neoplasia in Taiwan: a Community-based Survey of 10,602 Women

Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical neoplasia; but limited data are available from Asia. We conducted a large-scale community-based cohort study in Taiwan to estimate prevalence of genotype-specific HPV infection and cervical neoplasia. Following written informed consent, cervical cells for cytology and HPV testing were collected from 11,923 participants (aged 30-65 years old, mean 46.3) in 1991-1992. Genotyping was performed using MY11/GP6+ PCR-based HPV Blot (EasyChip) for 39 HPV types. The overall HPV prevalence was 16.2% for 10,602 eligible participants, and 13.8% for 10,190 cytologically normal participants. The most common carcinogenic types were HPV52 (2.5%), HPV16 (2.0%), HPV56 (1.8%), HPV18 (1.6%), HPV33 (1.2%), HPV58 (1.3%) and HPV39 (1.0%). Among the 56 prevalent invasive and in situ cases, HPV16 (48.2%) was most common, followed by HPV58 (25.0%), HPV52 (19.6%), HPV31 (8.9%), HPV33 (8.9%) and HPV18 (3.6%). HPV16 and HPV58 caused cytological HSIL+ at younger ages than HPV52. Approximately half of the cervical cancer cases and high-grade precursors in Taiwan could be prevented by prophylactic vaccines against HPV16 and HPV18 infection. Up to 40% more could be prevented by targeting HPV58, HPV52, HPV33 and HPV31, arguing for the introduction of vaccines including more types.