Epidemiological Characteristics and Genotype Distribution of Human Papillomavirus Among Women of Different Ethnic Groups in the Yili Region: A Retrospective Study of 13,915 Women

Huizi He,1,* Xiaoli Hou,1,* Hulkar Bahtiyar,1 Meier Tuhetamishi,1 Tingting Bian1,2 1Department of Pathology, Friendship Hospital of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, Yining, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tingting Bian, Email biantingting@ntu.edu.cnObjective: To analyze Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection status and its association with cervical lesions among women of different ethnic groups in the Yili region (2021– 2023), providing evidence for local cervical cancer prevention.Methods: Retrospective analysis of 13,915 women who underwent HPV genotyping and ThinPrep cytologic testing (TCT) at three hospitals. Among them, 1,240 with abnormal screening or clinical symptoms received cervical biopsy. SPSS 27.0 was used for statistical analysis.Results: Overall HPV infection rate was 22.0% (3,068/13,915), with high-risk (HR-HPV) accounting for 87.2%. Age-specific rates showed a U-shaped pattern: highest in ≤ 24 years (39.3%), a second peak at 55– 64 years (27.9%), lowest at 45– 54 years (19.8%) (P< 0.001). Common genotypes: HPV16, 52, 42, 53, 51, 58. Among 7,490 women with ethnicity data, Kazakh women had the highest HPV infection rate (34.6%) and HR-HPV rate (30.1%), significantly higher than Han (27.7%), Uyghur (20.4%), and Hui (24.2%) (P< 0.001). However, after age adjustment, the difference was no longer statistically significant. Among 1,240 biopsy cases, HPV infection rates increased with lesion severity: chronic cervicitis (79.5%), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1 (85.4%), CIN2 (97.3%), CIN3 (96.8%), cervical cancer (92.7%) (P< 0.001). HPV16 was the most common genotype in CIN2+ lesions, followed by HPV52 and HPV58.Conclusion: HPV infection rate in Yili region is high (22.0%), predominantly HR-HPV (87.2%). The infection rate among Kazakh women was the highest, but the analysis adjusted by age showed no statistically significant difference. This suggests that they might be the key population for cervical cancer screening and prevention, but more evidence is needed to confirm this. Furthermore, hospital-based sampling may limit generalizability.Keywords: human papillomavirus, genotype, Kazakh population, cervical lesions