Prevalence of human papillomavirus types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, and 33 in a cohort of Greek women.

To study HPV prevalence and HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, and 33 distribution in cervical smears in a cohort of Greek women. One thousand six hundred thirty-six samples were cytologically evaluated and molecularly analyzed, by PCR based assay. Abnormal cytology was identified in 997 women and 75.4% of them were HPV DNA positive, while 639 had normal cytology and 24.6% were HPV DNA positive. HPV was detected in 62.9% of 256 ASCUS smears, 89.3% of 516 LSIL, 86.7% of 60 HSIL and 47.3% of 165 with cervical carcinoma. Overall, HPV 11 was the most common type (13.4%), followed by 18 (10.3%), 6 (7.2%), 16 (6.4%), 31 (3.4%) and 33 (3.4%). Multiple infections with two (11.3%) or more types, primarily 11 and 18 (4.8%), were also identified. Low-risk types 11 and 6 were common in ASCUS (36.6% and 26.4%, respectively), and high-risk types 16 and 18 in HSIL (42.3% and 30.8%, respectively) and in cancer (51.3% and 41%, respectively). Multiple infections were detected in 2.2% of normal and 31.7% of HSIL. HPV prevalence was 75.4% in abnormal and 24.6% in normal cervical smears. HPV 16 and 18 were the most common types in cancer. Single infection with type 11 and multiple infections with 11 and 18 were more frequent.