Comparison of self-collected vaginal swabs and first-void urine for detection of human papillomavirus in sexually active girls and women in three South Asian countries - PubMed
4 hours ago
- #self-sampling
- #HPV detection
- #South Asia
- The study compared human papillomavirus (HPV) detection using self-collected vaginal swabs (SCVS) and first-void urine (FVU) samples from 753 sexually active participants aged 15-25 in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.
- Overall high-risk HPV prevalence was 8.6% in SCVS and 7.2% in FVU, with similar detection rates for vaccine-targeted types (5.3% vs. 5.0%).
- SCVS showed higher sensitivity for detecting HPV types beyond the 9-valent vaccine, with significant McNemar p-values, while overall concordance between methods was high (Kappa >0.7).
- Discordant results were more common in samples with lower viral loads, as indicated by higher PCR cycle threshold values.
- Both SCVS and FVU are effective non-invasive methods suitable for large-scale HPV surveillance in resource-limited settings.