The prevalence of different HPV genotypes and different level of cytological changes in Lithuanian population

Introduction: Lithuania has a population of 1.26 million women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year 412 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 193 die from the disease. Cervical cancer ranks as the 4th most frequent cancer among women in Lithuania and the 2nd most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age. The aim was to evaluate cytological changes and HPV prevalence in Lithuanian population. Methods: Between 2010 and 2024 LUHS Hospital Kaunas Clinics tested 13519 women for both: cytology and HPV. 2010-2018 HPV pooled results were given as the found/not found, in 2018 the genotyping was started. Results: In 2010-2024 the 13159 women were tested and 23.45% were HPV positive. In HPV positive group of 3170 women the cytology changes were as following: • Normal cytology/NILM – 592 (18.67 %); • Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance/ASC-US 485 (15.30 %); • Low-grade cervical lesions/LSIL 1147 (36.18 %); • High-grade cervical lesions/HSIL 880 (27.76 %); • Cervical cancer 66 (2.08 %). HPV-pos women who had LSIL and LSIL were significantly younger than those who had ASC-US, NILM or cervical cancer, accordingly. HPV 16 was found to be most frequent genotype in population, and it was found together with cytology changes: ASC-US 21.50%, LSIL 21.05%, HSIL 46.15 %, and cervical cancer 27.78 %. HPV 18 was found to be the second most frequent genotype in population: ASC-US 6.54%, LSIL 5.92%, HSIL 9.05%, and cervical cancer 16.67 %. Interestingly, the HPV 31 and HPV 33 were found to be in high prevalence in Lithuanian population with high incidence rate, accordingly: ASC-US 9.35 and 4.67%, LSIL 12.17 and 4.28%, HSIL 6.79 and 8.14 %, and cervical cancer 16.67 and 11.11 %. Also, the age of women with cytology changes including LSIL and HSIL were found to be significantly younger than those who had ASC-US and cervical cancer. Conclusion: The prevalence of HPV at a young age with intracellular changes suggests that HPV can be applied to younger women to detect potential changes as early as possible.