Publication:

Statistical analysis of human papillomavirus prevalence and related factors in the North Tamil Nadu population: a cross-sectional study

Background Cervical cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in women worldwide. Cervical cancer is 95% caused by the consistent infection by high-risk human papillomavirus (Hr HPV). The incidence of this cancer is higher in developing countries.

Method This study is a cohort study consisting of an analysis of data from patient detail and consent form 120 HPV-suspected samples collected from north Tamil Nadu namely Chennai, Pochampalli, Vellore, Kanchipuram, Dharmapuri, and Ambur. The incidence of HPV is seen to be slightly raised in these regions. This study deals with exploring factors like age, cervix conditions, comorbidities, and symptoms for testing in correlation with HPV positivity. All the values interpreted are in significance p<0.05. All statistics was calculated using SPSS version 22.

Results This is a first-of-its-kind study in this population. This study aims to highlight the correlating factors of HPV infection and standardize a pattern to screen women. This timely screening will greatly reduce the impact of HPV-dependent cervical cancer. Factors like diabetes, inflamed cervix, erosion and age were seen to be positively correlated with HPV positive status and consequently with cervical cancer.

Conclusions These factors may be applied to other population groups and predictive parameters for HPV dependent cervical cancers may be established.