Objective: To explore the clinical value of examination of cervical HPV infection in women in early pregnancy and postpartum.
Methods: Using flow-through hybridization and gene chip techniques, we examined 3 806 cervical specimens of pregnant and postpartum women of different ages with different cervical diseases. The women were grouped into different age groups by every 5 years for HPV DNA genotyping of the specimens, with another 4080 women without pregnancy serving as the control.
Results: Of the total of 7886 specimens, high-risk HPV infection was detected a the rate of 12.5%. In pregnancy, postpartum and nonpregnancy, the infection rate was 14.3%,, 10.5%, and 11.7%, respectively. In the 4 age groups, the infection rate was 16.9%, 12.1%, 13.8%, and 22.1%, respectively.
Conclusion: The high-risk HPV infection rate in pregnancy differs significantly from that in nonpregnancy and postpartum. The infection rate also differs with age during pregnancy and postpartum. Examination of HPV infection during pregnancy is safe and feasible.