The Prevalence of Human Papilloma Virus Infection and Its High Risk Genotypes among Healthy Women in 28 Provinces in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Human Papilloma Virus infection (HPV) high-risk genotypes are responsible for up to 70% of invasive cervical cancers. It was aimed to determine the national and provincial prevalence of the total HPV and its high-risk genotypes including HPV genotype 16 (HPV16) and HPV genotype 18 (HPV18), and HPV genotypes other than genotypes of 16 and 18 (HPV other genotypes) among Iranian healthy women.

Iran with 28 provinces locates at latitude and longitude of 32° 00' north and 53° 00' east. All Persian and English studies reporting HPV infection based on cervical specimens were selected through searching the PubMed, Magiran, Scopus, Irandoc databases, and Google Scholar research search engine. Sample size and event rates were used to compute the overall event rates and 95% confidence interval (95% C.I); Fixed or random effects model, heterogeneity indices including Q-statistics (p-value), and degree of heterogeneity (I2) were reported. The search was done up to February 29, 2022. Comprehensive Meta-analysis 2.2.064 and ArcGIS 10.8.2 software tools were used at a significance level of <0.05.

The meta-analysis included nineteen studies with 258839 participants. The national meta-analysis resulted in a total HPV prevalence of 0.025 (95% C.I 0.016, 0.039); those of HPV16, HPV18, and HPV other genotypes were 0.032 (95% C.I 0.019, 0.051), 0.028 (95% C.I 0.019, 0.040), and 0.048 (95% C.I 0.033, 0.069), respectively. The provincial meta-analysis showed that the total HPV prevalence was highest in Zanjn and Kerman (0.323 and 0.240, respectively); that of HPV16 was highest in Boushehr and Khozestan (0.298 and 0.253, respectively); that of HPV18 was highest in Tehran (0.089) and that of HPV other genotypes was highest in Khozestan (0.542).

The current results would help policymakers and health managers accentuate on further implementation of screening strategies and health services in needier areas such as Zanjan, Kerma, Khozestan, and Tehran.