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. 2024 Jun 1;60(6):922.
doi: 10.3390/medicina60060922.

Prevalence of Carcinogenic Genotypes of HPV-Infected Women in a Ten-Year Period (2014-2023) in Vojvodina, Serbia

Natasa Nikolic  1   2 , Branka Basica  1 , Mirjana Strbac  1 , Lidija Terzic  1 , Aleksandra Patic  1   2 , Gordana Kovacevic  1   2 , Radmila Velicki  1   2 , Dusan Petrovic  1 , Aljosa Mandic  2   3 , Vladimir Petrovic  1   2
Affiliations

Prevalence of Carcinogenic Genotypes of HPV-Infected Women in a Ten-Year Period (2014-2023) in Vojvodina, Serbia

Natasa Nikolic et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and its etiological role in the development of cervical cancer are well established. The cervical cancer mortality rate in Serbia is one of the highest among European countries, and this cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Serbian women aged from 15 to 44. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the Institute of Public Health of Vojvodina. A total of 10,062 cervical specimens from Serbian women were collected and HPV tested in ten years. The study patients were divided into five age groups. HPV genotype testing was performed using a commercial kit to detect 14 high-risk (HR) HPV genotypes. Additionally, cervix cytology data have been available for patients tested in 2022 and 2023. Results: An overall positive rate was found in 43.3% of patients (4356/10,062). A single HPV infection (62.1%) was the main infection pattern. The most frequent HR HPV genotypes were HPV 16, 31, 52, 56, 39, and 51, comprising 62.3% of the detected genotypes, including multiple infections. A significant difference was noted in the HPV prevalence across the different age groups, with a bimodal distribution of HPV infection. The highest prevalence was recorded in the age group ≤ 30 and those after 61 years. Women diagnosed with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) were significantly older compared to others. HR HPV is the most prevalent in patients with HSIL cytological findings (76.5%). The most common type, according to age-specific distribution and cytological findings, was HR HPV 16. Conclusions: This study provides comprehensive data on HR HPV distribution among Serbian women, which can serve as a basis for subsequent monitoring of genotypic distribution. It is particularly significant considering they are missing in the updated ICO/IARC Report for Serbia, and the cervical cancer mortality rate in Serbia is one of the highest among European countries.

Keywords: HPV; Serbia; cervical intraepithelial lesion; genotype distribution; prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 2
Figure 2
Genotype-specific distribution of detected HR HPVs. The black bars represent HR HPV genotypes with a prevalence of ≥7%, and the grey bars represent HR HPV genotypes with a prevalence of <7%. The genotype distribution of single HR HPV, double HR HPV, and infections caused by more than two HR HPVs is shown in Figure 3. HR HPV 16 is a unique genotype presented in a single HPV infection in more than half of cases (52.1%) (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The genotype distribution of HR HPV infections among women from 2014 to 2023.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Overall HR HPV prevalence with the ratio of HR HPV infection.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Prevalence of HR HPV infection in different age groups with 95% confidence interval bars.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distribution of HR HPV genotypes in different age groups among HPV-positive females.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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