More information is needed about time between sexual initiation and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and development of cervical precancer. The objectives were to investigate the time between first sexual activity and detection of first cervical HPV infection or development of first cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and associated factors in women from the double-blind, multinational, 4-year PATRICIA trial. PATRICIA enroled women aged 15-25 years with no more than 6 lifetime sexual partners. Women were randomized 1:1 to the HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine or to control, but only women from the control arm who began sexual intercourse during the study or within 6 months before enrolment, and had no HPV infection detected before the recorded date of their first sexual intercourse, were included in the present analysis. The time between onset of sexual activity and detection of the first cervical HPV infection or development of the first CIN lesion was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and univariate and multivariable Cox proportional-hazards models. A total of 9337 women were enroled in the control arm of PATRICIA of whom 982 fulfilled the required inclusion criteria for analysis. A cumulative total of 28%, 44%, and 62% of the subjects had HPV infection within 12, 24, and 48 months, respectively. The overall incidence rate was 27.08 per 100 person-years. The most common oncogenic types associated with 6-month persistent infection were HPV-16 (incidence rate: 2.74 per 100 person-years), HPV-51 (2.70), HPV-52 (1.66), HPV-66 (1.14), and HPV-18 (1.09). Increased infection risk was associated with more lifetime sexual partners, being single, Chlamydia trachomatis history, and duration of hormone use. CIN1+ and CIN2+ lesions were most commonly associated with HPV-16, with an overall incidence rate of 1.87 and 1.07 per 100 person-years, respectively. Previous cervical HPV infection was most strongly associated with CIN development. More than 25% of women were infected with HPV within 1 year of beginning sexual activity. Without underestimating the value of vaccination at older ages, our findings emphasize its importance before sexual initiation. clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00122681 .

Objective: To report a modelling study using local health care costs and epidemiological inputs from a population-based program to access the cost-effectiveness of adopting hrHPV test.Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis based on a microsimulation dynamic Markov model. Data and costs were based on data from the local setting and literature review. The setting was Indaiatuba, Brazil, that has adopted the hrHPV test in place of cytology since 2017. After calibrating the model, one million women were simulated in hypothetical cohorts. Three strategies were tested: cytology to women aged 25 to 64 every three years; hrHPV test to women 25–64 every five years; cytology to women 25–29 years every three years and hrHPV test to women 30–64 every five years (hybrid strategy). Outcomes were Quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) and Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER).Results: The hrHPV testing and the hybrid strategy were the dominant strategies. Costs were lower and provided a more effective option at a negative incremental ratio of US$ 37.87 for the hybrid strategy, and negative US$ 6.16 for the HPV strategy per QALY gained. Reduction on treatment costs would influence a decrease in ICER, and an increase in the costs of the hrHPV test would increase ICER.Conclusions: Using population-based data, the switch from cytology to hrHPV testing in the cervical cancer screening program of Indaiatuba is less costly and cost-effective than the old cytology program.

Cervical cancer is a preventable disease, and the Brazilian screening is opportunistic and has low impact. The current study evaluated an initiative to organize screening using DNA–HPV testing as a replacement for cytology. This demonstration study examined information from 16 384 DNA–HPV tests for screening in women aged 25–64 years from Indaiatuba city between October 2017–March 2020. The comparison was 20 284 women screened using cytology between October 2014–March 2017. The flowchart indicates the repetition of a negative test in five years. HPV16- and/or HPV18-positive tests and the 12 pooled high–risk HPV-positive tests with abnormal liquid–based cytology were referred for colposcopy. If cytology was negative, the HPV test was repeated in 12 months. The analyses evaluated coverage, age–group compliance, and cancer detected. After 30 months, the coverage projection was greater than 80%. The age compliance for the HPV test was 99.25%, compared to 78.0% in the cytology program. The HPV test program showed 86.8% negative tests and 6.3% colposcopy referrals, with 78% colposcopies performed. The HPV testing program detected 21 women with cervical cancer with a mean age of 39.6 years, and 67% of cancers were early–stage compared to 12 cervical cancer cases detected by cytological screening (p=0.0284) with a mean age of 49.3 years (p=0.0158), and one case of early–stage (p=0.0014). Organizing cervical cancer screening using DNA–HPV testing demonstrated high coverage and age compliance in a real–life scenario, and it had an immediate impact on cervical cancer detection at an early–stage. University of Campinas, Indaiatuba City, and Roche Diagnostics.

To determine the prevalence of cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and risk factors in young women from Brazil, Canada, and the USA. Cross-sectional study in 3204 healthy women, aged 15 to 25 years. Cervical samples were collected for cytology and for HPV DNA detection (SPF10-LiPA25 system). Serum samples were collected for the measurement of HPV-16 and HPV-18 antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Risk factors were obtained through a questionnaire. Overall, 26.6% of women had DNA detected for at least 1 HPV type. The prevalence for oncogenic HPV types was 21.7% (25% in Brazil, 16.9% in Canada, and 19.1% in the USA). HPV-16 was the most prevalent oncogenic type (5.2%). The next most common oncogenic HPV types were 51 (3.3%), 52 (3.3%), 31 (2.9%), 66 (2.3%), and 39 (2.0%). Multiple oncogenic types were detected in one-third of the infections. The prevalence of HPV-16 and/or HPV-18 infections detected by DNA and/or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was 24.8%. The majority of women (85%) had a normal cervical cytology. Sexual behavior was the main determinant for HPV-16/18 infections and squamous intraepithelial lesions. The prevalence of HPV oncogenic infections was high and linked to sexual behavior. Strategies to reduce the burden of oncogenic HPV infection, such as prophylactic vaccination programs, are likely to impact the burden of disease due to cervical precancer and cancer.

The present update is a reassessment of the 2018 ‘Guidelines for HPV-DNA Testing for Cervical Cancer Screening in Brazil’ (Zeferino et al.)9, according to the changes observed in new international guidelines and knowledge updates. The most relevant and recent guidelines were assessed. Questions regarding the clinical practice were formulated, and the answers considered the perspective of the public and private sectors of the Brazilian health system. The review addressed risk-based strategies regarding age to start and stop screening, the use of cytology and colposcopy to support management decisions, treatment, follow-up strategies, and screening in specific groups, including vaccinated women. The update aims to improve the prevention of cervical cancer and to reduce overtreatment and the misuse of HPV testing.