The prevalence of human papillomavirus type 16 and 18 DNA in cervical cancer in different age groups: a study on the incidental cases of cervical cancer in Norway in 1983.

In a study carried out to estimate the prevalence of genital Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection among cervical cancer patients in Norway, the following values were recorded using the southern blot hybridization method: 54.1% HPV 16, 9.5% HPV 18, 0% HPV 11, and 1.4% HPV 16 and 18 coinfection, yielding a total of 62.2% HPV positive cases in the study. An attempt to include a normal biopsy as "internal control" from each patient failed, as macroscopically normal tissue was often histologically abnormal. HPV infection did not relate to stage of disease, age, or 5-year survival, whereas the classic relationship between stage and survival was observed. A very high percentage of HPV positive cases occurred among older women, a fact which does not support the existence of a new HPV epidemic. The studied population is unique, as it represents 75 cases which comprise a representative sample of the 372 incidental cases of cervical cancer in Norway in 1983. To our knowledge this is the first study of its kind.