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Age distribution
Prevalent HPV infections are less likely to persist in younger women than in older women. Over a 36-month period, four of five immunocompetent women cleared the infection spontaneously.12 In this study, the age distribution showed a bell-shaped curve, with a peak between 35 and 39 years of age. The highest prevalence of HrHPV infections was observed in young women. This finding is similar to the findings in another South African study.21 In the current study, 56% of women younger than 30 years of age were infected with HrHPV.
Results from the current study were comparable to the findings of a Kenyan study, which showed the highest prevalence of HPV infection to be in women between the ages of 25 and 29 years. Fifty-eight per cent of these Kenyan patients tested positive for HPV DNA.22 However, the findings from the Kenyan study included all women tested, regardless of cervical cytology. The peak in the prevalence of Harp infections in women between 20 and 29 years of age was also noted in a Korean study that was representative of the general population. In the current study, the infection rate was more than double the 23% prevalence found in the Korean population.
In contrast to other African and international studies that showed a decline in HPV prevalence in the general population with increasing age, there was a peak in the prevalence of HrHPV infections in the women in this population between 60 and 69 years of age without cytological abnormalities.10,19,23 However, a large meta-analysis of women with normal cervical cytology revealed a similar second peak in older women from southern Africa, southern Europe and southern Asia.9 The reasons for the peak in this age group were not clear. They might relate to sexual behaviour and/or unscreened and untreated patients.
Other reasons might be poor cervical cancer screening implementation, and the highly sensitive method used to test for HPV DNA.10 Reactivation of latent infections might also be associated with a decline in immune function associated with ageing.12 Gravitt et al. suggest that an increased risk of latent HPV infection at 50 years of age might be responsible for the higher prevalence of HPV infection in older women.
CHAPTER 1
1.1. INTRODUCTION
1.2. OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES
1.3. MATERIAL AND METHODS
1.4. RESULTS
1.5. DISCUSSION
1.6. CONCLUSION .
1.7. REFERENCES .
CHAPTER 2
2.1. INTRODUCTION
2.3. Material and methods
2.4. RESULTS
2.5. Discussion
2.6. CONCLUSION
2.7. REFERENCES
CHAPTER 3
3.1. INTRODUCTION
3.2. OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES
3.3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
3.4. RESULTS .
3.5. DISCUSSION .
3.6. CONCLUSION
3.7. REFERENCES
CHAPTER 4
4.1. INTRODUCTION
4.2. OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES
4.3. MATERIALS AND METHODS .
4.4. RESULTS .
4.6. CONCLUSIONS
4.7. REFERENCES .
CHAPTER 5
5.1. INTRODUCTION .
5.2. OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES
5.3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
5.4. RESULTS .
5.5. DISCUSSION
5.6. CONCLUSION
5.7. REFERENCES .
CHAPTER 6
6.1. INTRODUCTION
6.2. SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS .
6.3. INTERPRETATION OF SPECIFIC HIGH-RISK HPV TYPE FINDINGS
6.4. COMPARISON OF RESEARCH FINDINGS WITH AVAILABLE
6.5. RELATIVE ONCOGENIC POTENTIAL OF HIGH-RISK HPV TYPES
