Analysis of influencing factors of viral load in patients with high-risk human papillomavirus.

BACKGROUND High-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) load is thought to be influenced by many factors, and the relationship between viral load and the degree of cervical lesion is controversial. This study explored the possible influencing factors of HR-HPV viral load in the uterine cervix. METHODS A total of 605 women who needed colposcopic evaluation for abnormal cervical screening at the Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, China, between November 2017 and September 2018 were enrolled. Cervical specimens were collected from the endo- and ectocervix separately using two different cervical brushes. The hybrid capture II test was used to measure HR-HPV load. Age, histological severity, number of viral types, and area and location of cervical lesions were recorded. The correlations between viral load and influencing factors were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS HR-HPV load was positively correlated with age, histological severity, multiple HPV types and area of cervical lesions (P   0.05). CONCLUSION HR-HPV load is influenced by age, histological severity, multiple viral types, area of cervical lesion and sampling methods. Age and area of cervical lesions are independent factors for viral load.