PURPOSE: to estimate the prevalence of HPV and its genotypes in HIV-infected and non-infected women, using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. METHODS: a sectional study with 79 enrolled women: a study group, with 41 HIV-infected women, and a control group, with 38 non-infected women attended at a Basic Health Unit. All were submitted to a serologic test for the detection of HIV and spontaneously looked for gynecological attendance at those units, for the first time. They answered a standard questionnaire and were submitted to a gynecological examination with a cervical swab and specimen for the detection of DNA-HPV and its genotypes. Statistical analysis was performed using Kruskal-Wallis, chi2 or Fisher's exact tests. Statistical significance was considered at p<0.05. RESULTS: the demographic characteristics, obstetric and gynecological previous history were similar in both groups except for previous STD, but different as to the gynecological examination and cervical cytological analysis. The presence of DNA-HPV was significantly different (p<0.05) in the two groups. Among HIV-infected patients, 73.2% presented DNA-HPV positive results, as compared with 23.8% of non-infected women (OR=8.79; 95% IC: 2.83 28.37). Concerning HPV genotypes, there was no clear predominance of a specific HPV subtype in the HIV-infected or in the HIV non-infected groups, and the frequency of unidentified types was similar in both groups. Non-significant predominance of HPV multiple infections (p>0.05) was detected in the HIV-infected women (50.0%) and the most frequently found combination was of types 6, 11 and 16. HPV simple infection occurred in 66.6% of HIV-non-infected patients. The most frequent type found in both groups was 16, representing 44% of all the simple infections in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: HIV-infected women showed higher DNA-HPV prevalence in the uterine cervix, as compared to non-infected women. There was no difference in the predominance of specific types of HPV when both groups were compared. There was a tendency to HPV multiple infections in the HIV-infected women, whereas simple infection predominated in the non-infected patients.
Polymerase chain reaction; Papillomavirus, human; HIV; Cytology; Cervix neoplasm
