A population-based study of human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid testing for predicting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

OBJECTIVE

Our purpose was to determine the predictive values of primary or secondary screening for cervical human papillomavirus infection for cytologic detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

STUDY DESIGN

Most of the 254 women referred for colposcopy in Västerbotten County in Sweden during October 1993 through December 1995 and 320 age-matched women from the general population were screened for human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid by nested general-primer polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS

Ninety-six percent of women with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia had human papillomavirus, compared with 4% of women with normal findings (odds ratio 606; 95% confidence interval 137 to 5607). Thirty-seven percent of referred women and 48% of referred women >39 years old had mostly minor cytologic abnormalities with no human papillomavirus. The human papillomavirus-associated positive predictive value for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia was 76% in the colposcopy group and 11% in the general population, whereas the negative predictive value was >97% in both populations.

CONCLUSION

Testing for human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid seems diagnostically useful among women referred for colposcopy.