Our study was performed to assess prevalence of HPV infections in general female population of Korea and efficacy of HPV DNA test as an adjunctive screening of cervical cancer.

From January 2000 to December 2000, a total 689 patients who had undergone Pap smear and HPV DNA test using Hybrid Capture System-II were included in this study. High risk types of HPV included 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68. We performed colposcopic biopsy on 203 patients.

High-risk oncogenic HPV infections were found in the 19.4% of the investigated patients. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of Pap smear alone in identifying the lesions more severe than CIN 2 was 72.2% and 83.2%, respectively. The combination of Pap smear and high risk HPV testing increased to 96.3% and 95.3%, respectively.

The prevalence of HPV infection in general population was 19.4%. The use of HPV DNA testing significantly improved the sensitivity or negative predictive value of the diagnosis of high grade CIN or cancer. Thus, we suggest HPV DNA testing appears to be a needed adjunct to the Pap smear and a combined screening test offers the possibility of greater detection or longer screening intervals, which will be able to reduce the overall cost of the screening program.