RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the prevalence and subtype distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and its correlation with age among women in Beijing urban area, and provide some epidemiological evidence for the clinical application of HPV vaccines.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We collected cervical specimens from 1999 women in the Outpatient Department of our hospital, performed genetyping of HPV-DNA, and analyzed the incidence of HPV infection in different age groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HPV infection was detected in 502 (25.2%) of the 1999 women patients, with 391 (19.6%) cases of high-risk HPV, which included 326 (83.4%, 326/391) cases of single infection. HPV-16 was the most common type (21.2%, 69/326), followed by HPV-52 (19.3%, 63/326) and HPV-58 (16.0%, 52/326). The prevalence of HPV infection was the highest among the women aged 41 -50 years and the lowest among those over 60 years.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The subtype- and age-specific distribution of HPV infection among women in Beijing urban area shows an obvious heterogeneity, which deserves due consideration in the clinical application of HPV vaccines.</p>
