High-risk HPV DNA typing can be used as an adjunct to evaluate abnormal Pap smears. This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted to study the prevalence of high-risk HPV among women with abnormal Pap smears and to correlate high-risk HPV positivity with biopsy-proven cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia.

The study included 150 women with abnormal Pap smears who were also tested for high-risk HPV. They underwent colposcopy-directed cervical punch biopsy, which was subjected to staining with haematoxylin and eosin for histopathology.

The prevalence of high-risk HPV was 44.5% (n = 65) among 150 women with abnormal Pap smears. The most common type was HPV 16 in 37 women (66%), followed by HPV 56 in 8 women (14.3%) and HPV 18 in 7 women (12.5%). A positive correlation was found between high-risk HPV and the severity of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia.

Expression of high-risk HPV was lower in our population compared to the western data. The positive correlation between high-risk HPV and higher grades of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia confirms that this association can be used in inconclusive cases during the histopathological examination.