engleski

Burden of HPV infection among Croatian women

Cancer is a major concern in Croatia. Cervical cancer incidence rates decreased through years since the 1960s when opportunistic cervical cancer screening by Papanicolou (Pap) test was introduced in Croatia. However, mortality from cervical cancer in Croatia is higher than the average in the European Union. The crude incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer in 2007 were 16.8 and 5.0 per 100, 000 women. High-risk Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are causing cervical cancer. The most common HPV types found in invasive cervical cancer collected worldwide were 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45, 52, and 58. In Croatia HPV 16, followed by 31, 52, 33, 18, 58 and 45, was found to be the most common HPV genotype in cervical smears among Croatian women with either low or high grade cervical lesions. The effective implementation of the organized cervical cancer screening programme, and in parallel, the HPV vaccination programme would be the only way to achieve further reduction of cervical cancer cases in Croatia. HPV DNA testing that is already widely used in clinical settings in Croatia, should become the primary screening test, while HPV genotyping of at least the most common types in invasive cervical cancer, HPV 16 and 18 should become an integral part of the diagnostic procedures.

HPV; cervical cancer

nije evidentirano