Prevalence, risk factors, and accuracy of cytologic screening for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in women with the human immunodeficiency virus.

OBJECTIVES

The objective was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of cervical cytology in women infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), risk factors for abnormal cytology in HIV-infected and uninfected women, and risk factors for histologic diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in HIV-infected women.

METHODS

Methods included a cross-sectional analysis of cervical cytology, colposcopic impression, and histology in 248 HIV-infected women and multivariate analyses of risk factors for abnormal cytology in 253 HIV-infected and 220 uninfected women and risk factors for CIN in 186 HIV-infected women.

RESULTS

The sensitivity and specificity of cytology for all CIN grades were 0.60 and 0.80 and, for high-grade CIN, 0.83 and 0.74. The prevalence of abnormal cytology was 32.9% in HIV-infected and 7.6% in HIV-negative women. Independent risk factors for abnormal cytology were immunodeficiency [odds ratio (OR) 8-17, P < 0.001] and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection (OR = 5, P < 0.001). The prevalence of CIN on histology was 32% in HIV-infected women, and the only independent risk factor for CIN was oncogenic HPV type (OR = 5, P = 0.005).

CONCLUSION

Given the high prevalence of abnormal cytology and CIN in HIV-infected women, cytologic screening has significant limitations. Both immunodeficiency and type of HPV infection are important risk factors.