Global availability of data on HPV genotype-distribution in cervical, vulvar and vaginal disease and genotype-specific prevalence and incidence of HPV infection in females

BACKGROUND: Country-level HPV genotyping data may be sought by decision-makers to gauge the genotype-specific burden of HPV-related diseases in their jurisdiction and assess the potential impact of HPV vaccines. We investigated, by country, the availability of published literature on HPV genotypes in cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers and intraepithelial neoplasms (CINs, VaINs and VINs) and on prevalence and incidence of genital HPV infections among women without clinically manifest disease. FINDINGS: Primary sources of publications were the PubMed/Medline and EMBASE databases. Original studies or meta-analyses published from 2000, covering genotypes 16 and 18 and at least one of genotypes 31/33/45/52/58, were included. Key exclusion criteria were language not English, cervical lesions not histologically confirmed (cytology only), special populations (e.g., immunocompromised) and, for cervical studies, small population (<50). A total of 727 studies reporting HPV genotype-specific data were identified: 366 for cervical cancers and CINs, 43 for vulvar or vaginal cancers and VINs/VaINs, and 395 and 21 for infection prevalence and incidence, respectively, in general female population samples. A large proportion of studies originated from a small set of countries. Cervical cancer/CIN typing data was scarce for several regions with the highest cervical cancer burden, including Eastern, Middle and Western Africa, Central America, South-East Asia, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. Data for vulvar/vaginal disease was limited outside of Europe and North America. CONCLUSIONS: Although a large body of published HPV genotype-specific data is currently available, data gaps exist for genotype-specific infection incidence and several world regions with the highest cervical cancer burden. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13027-015-0008-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.