Abstract:

Objective To investigate prevalence and spontaneous regression of cervical high risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection of women in final or third trimester pregnancy stage. Methods Form January 2010 to December 2011, a total of 3 382 women with 37 to 42 gestational weeks were enrolled in the study. The women were given ThinPrep cytology test (TCT) before pregnancy and HPV hybrid capture Ⅱ (HPV HC-Ⅱ) before delivery. The infection status of HPV was monitored during one-year-long follow-up after delivery, and those positive cases received cytological test, colposcope and pathological examinations. Results The HR-HPV infection rate was 18.4% (623/3 382). The infection rate was significantly higher in women with 3 or over times of pregnancy, whereas age and gravidity had no significant correlation with HR-HPV infection. In 530 positive cases, 140 were still positive in the end of follow-up, whose cytological test findings were 90 cases of normal/inflammation, 40 cases of atypical squamous cells, 6 cases of low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, and 4 cases of high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. And 50 cases were given colposcope examination, who were 22 cases of inflammation/HPV, 16 cases of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion (CIN) Ⅰ, 4 cases of CIN Ⅱ, and 8 cases of CIN Ⅲ. Conclusion Women with 3 or over times of pregnancy had significantly high infection rate of HR-HPV. HR-HPV infection during pregnancy would spontaneously regress, which had no correlation with delivery mode. Patients with continued HR-HPV infection after delivery should undergo cytological test, colposcope and pathological examinations.

Key words: human papillomavirus, cervix uteri, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, final or third trimester pregnancy stage, postpartum