Objective: The Roche Cobas (Cobas) and BD Onclarity (Onclarity) human papillomavirus (HPV) assays are convenient, PCR-based, HPV DNA tests; currently, data on performance of Onclarity in Chinese women is limited. We aimed to evaluate the clinical performance of Onclarity for detecting cervical lesions in Chinese women.
Methods: In total, 1122 women were enrolled into this study. Exfoliated cervical cells were collected in PreservCyt medium and were tested using Cobas and Onclarity. Cytology and histology were interpreted by senior cytologists and a panel of pathologists, respectively, at Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
Results: The assays showed excellent concordance for HPV16 (kappa = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.85-0.97) and for 12 other high-risk types (HPV31/33/35/39/45/51/52/56/58/59/66/68, kappa = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.78-0.90), and very good concordance for HPV18 (kappa = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.69-0.81). No difference for ≥CIN2 sensitivity was observed between Onclarity and Cobas (both 90.5%); and the <CIN2 specificity for detection was similar between Onclarity (84.2%, 95% CI: 81.6-86.4) and Cobas (80.4%, 95% CI: 77.6-82.8). When combined with cytology triage, the colposcopy referral rate point estimate was slightly lower for Onclarity (9.0%) than for Cobas (11.0%), with the same ≥CIN2 sensitivity of 75.0% (95% CI: 53.1-88.8) for Onclarity and Cobas.
Conclusions: Onclarity exhibited comparable screening performance and triage efficiency compared to Cobas in detection of cervical lesions in Chinese women.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; Cervical cancer screening; Diagnostic test performance; Human papillomavirus.
Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.