OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) and incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in female populations in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.

METHODSTotally 1137 women aged 15-59 from Shahe Community, Nanshan District, Shenzhen were investigated for cervical cancer during an population-based epidemiological screening from November 2004 to December 2004. Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), colposcopy, liquid-based cytology test (LCT), and hybrid capture 2 (HC-) were performed to detect the high-risk HPV types in cervical secretions. Biopsy under colposcope was performed in women who were HPV-positive with LCT >or= atypical squamous cells of undetermined sign (ASCUS) or HPV-negative with LCT >or= low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), with the pathological results as the golden standards.

RESULTSThe detection rate of high-risk HPV-DNA was 14.0%. HPV detection rates in 15-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, and 50-59 age groups were 15.5%, 17.7%, 12.6%, 8.8%, 10.2%, 15.3%, and 21.0%, respectively (P < 0.05). HPV detection rates in 25-29 years group and 50-59 years group were significantly higher than those in other groups (P < 0.05) and 35-39 group had the lowest detection rate. The curve of HPV infection rates in all groups was 'V' type. The overall incidence of CIN was 4.4%. The incidences of CIN , CIN , and CIN were 3.2%, 1.0%, and 0.3%, respectively, in which the incidence of CIN was significantly higher than those of CIN and . HPV detection rates increased with cervical lesion grades, which in >or=CIN groups and normal group were 100.0% and 8.3%, respectively. No cervical cancer was identified in this research. The sensitivities of VIA, colposcopy, LCT, and HC-II for high-risk HPV screening were 35.7%, 50.0%, 92.9%,and 100%, respectively, in detecting high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), the specificities of these four methods were 96.0%, 87.2%, 88.4%, and 86.9%, respectively. Satisfactory negative predictive values were obtained for all methods.

CONCLUSIONSHPV infection is the main risk factor for CIN. Cervical cancer among female populations in Shenzhen is still in early stages. Prevention of HPV infection and treatment of CIN are key for the prevention of cervical cancer.