Performance of Cervical Cancer Screening Techniques in HIV-Infected Women in Uganda

Abstract

Objective: Women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a higher risk of HPV infections and developing cervical cancer, thus screening them is imperative. This study was aimed to evaluate and compare the performance of 3 cervical cancer screening options among HIV-infected women in Uganda.

Materials and methods: Data from 2,337 Ugandan women who reported their HIV status were obtained from a population-based cervical cancer screening study. Women were offered 3 screening tests: vaginal and cervical careHPV and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), and the results were evaluated by HIV status.

Results: The prevalence of HIV infection was 16.5%. Women infected with HIV had a higher prevalence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2+ (CIN2+) than uninfected women (12.9% vs 1.7%; p < .001). The sensitivity for cervical careHPV among the HIV-infected women was 94.3% compared to 81.3% among the uninfected women. Whereas the sensitivity for vaginal careHPV was also higher among the HIV-infected women, the sensitivity of VIA was higher among the uninfected women. The mean vaginal and cervical careHPV signal strength was higher in the HIV-infected women than in the uninfected women (p < .001).

Conclusions: CareHPV is very sensitive for detecting CIN2+ in HIV-infected women, even using a vaginal sample. The sensitivity of careHPV in HIV-infected women is higher than in HIV-uninfected women. However, additional research is needed to determine the best option for screening and triage of HPV-positive women that can be implemented in low-resource settings, especially among HIV- and HPV-positive women.