HPV genotype prevalence and distribution during 2009–2018 in Xinjiang, China: baseline surveys prior to mass HPV vaccination

The aim of this paper was to conduct a baseline survey of HPV infection in unvaccinated women in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region before the mass use of HPV vaccine. Between 2008 and 2018, the HPV genotype detected by a PCR-based hybridization gene chip assay of 37,722 women who were from Gynecology Department and Health Management Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University were tested HPV genotype by a PCR-based hybridization gene chip assay. All statistical analysis methods were performed with this statistical software including Python version 3.6.1, R Software 3.5.1 and Excel 2011. The total positive rate for HPV was 14.02%, the most prevalent genotypes were HPV 16 (3.79%), HPV 52 (2.47%), HPV 58 (1.76%), HPV 53 (1.35%) and HPV 31 (0.72%). The single infection (11.34%) and high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection (9.72%) was the main prevalence of HPV. Age-specific HPV distribution was presented as a bimodal curve, while the youngest age group (≤25 years) presented the highest HPV infection rate (20.78%), which was followed by a second peak for the 36–40 age group. According to the ethnic stratification, the HPV infection prevalence ranging from the high to low was: Mongol (16.36%), Hui (15.15%), Kazak (14.47%), Han (14.43%), Other (14.37%), Uygher (10.96%). From 2009 to 2013, the HPV infection rate fluctuated but did not changed much. It peaked in 2014 and then fell significantly, reached the bottom point in 2017 and rose slightly in 2018. In 2015, the infection rate of HPVl6 and 52 in the population was almost the same (both 3.40%) the infection rate of HPV52 type (3.31%) was higher than that of HPVl6 type (2.18%) and became the dominant type in 2016. We present data regarding the prevalence and type distribution of HPV infection, which could serve as the valuable reference to guide nationwide cervical cancer screening. These baseline data enable the estimates of maximum HPV vaccine impact across time and provide critical reference measurements which are important to the assess of clinical benefits and potential harms in HPV vaccination and the increase in non-vaccine HPV types.