The significance of human papillomavirus infection detected by cervical cytology among women infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a risk factor for both human papillomavirus infection (HPV) and cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL). This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of underlying SIL among women with a cytological diagnosis of HPV infection alone. Of 160 women, the overall prevalence of HIV infection and SIL was 41.9% and 36.9%, respectively. Biopsy which confirmed SIL of any grade was demonstrated in 49.3% and 28% of HIV-infected and HIV-non-infected women. However, for individual grade of SIL, there was no statistical significant difference among the HIV-infected and HIV-non-infected groups. Although the finding of a cytological diagnosis of HPV among HIV-non-infected women is usually managed conservatively, the finding of a high rate of underlying SIL among HIV-infected women may argue against such a conservative approach.