PREVALENCE OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS AMONG WOMEN ATTENDING RIDGE HOSPITAL, ACCRA

ABSTRACT

In Ghana, cervical cancer constitutes about 57.8% of all gynaecological cancers. It is the second most common cancer in women with an estimated incidence of 26.4 per 100,000. HPVs are aetiological agents of cervical cancer. Genital HPV are the most common sexually transmitted viruses in human. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and genotypes distribution of HPV 6, 11, 16 and18 among women attending the Family Planning and Human Papilllomavirus screening centre of the Ridge Hospital. It was a quantitative cross- sectional study on the prevalence of HPV infection among women aged 19 to 60 years attending the Family Planning and HPV Screening Centre of Ridge Hospital. 201 ecto and endocervical samples were taken for the extraction of HPV-DNA and detection of HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18 using polymerase chain reaction. HPV dual priming oligonucleotide primers, which was a multiplex system for HPV genotypes, was used for amplification. A data analysis was done using Stata 11 to determined odds ratios and the prevalence of HPV among the women. The mean age of participants was 38.43 ± 11.81 years and the percentage of lifetime single sexual partner was 26.37%. The HPV prevalence was 15.92%. Of the women with HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 or other types detected, 98.51 % had one type, 1.49% had two types. Overall prevalence of specific types was 1.00% for HPV 6/11, 2.99% for type 16, and 1.99% for type18 and 9.95% for other types. In conclusion, this study suggests a statistically significant association between having multiple partners and the prevalence of HPV infection (OR=2.68, p=0.01). Vaccination against HPV should be made available and accessible to Ghanaian girls before age 18 years.