Objective To investigate the effect of human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA detection on cervical cancer and its precancerous lesions screening.Methods A total of 2 852 patients participated in cervical screening in Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016 were enrolled.The HPV DNA testing and pathological biopsy were conducted in all patients,and the pathological examination results were defined as the gold standard.The influences of age,regions of residence (rural and urban) and obesity on the positive rate of HPV DNA were analysed.The results of HPV DNA testing in different pathological types were compared,and the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value of of HPV DNA testing were analysed,as well.Results The positive rate of HPV DNA in the 18-＜35 age group was significantly higher than that in the 35-＜50 age group and 50-58 age group,the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05).There was no statistically significant difference in positive rate of HPV DNA between the 35-＜50 age group and 50-58 age group (P＞0.05).The positive rate of HPV DNA of patients in urban areas was significantly lower than that of those patients in rural areas (P＜0.05),while no statistically significant difference was found in the positive rate of HPV DNA between patients with normal weight and patients whose weight exceeded the standard (P＞0.05).Among patients with positive HPV DNA testing results,the detection rate of cervical cancer and its precancerous lesions based on pathological examination was 1.60 ％ and 28.60 ％,respectively.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value and missed diagnosis rate of HPV DNA testing was 87.79％,86.98 ％,30.20 ％,99.11％ and 12.21％,respectively.Conclusion HPV DNA detection has a high sensitivity and specificity in cervical screening.