Prevalência da infecção pelo papilomavírus humano em mulheres nas diferentes fases reprodutivas da vida

Abstract

Introduction: The Human Papillomavirus is considered the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world, affecting both men and women, having an important association with anogenital, cervical and oropharyngeal tumors. Menopause marks the end of a woman's reproductive period, having as its main characteristic the cessation of menstruation. Studies point to the second peak of Human Papillomavirus infection in the menopause period, for reasons not yet established. Thus, the objective of this research was to survey the prevalence of Human Papillomavirus infection in a sample of women in their different reproductive stages attended in routine gynecological consultations at Basic Health Units in the city of São Luís, Maranhão. Material and Methods: Descriptive and cross-sectional research, carried out from March 2018 to March 2019, composed of 353 women participating in women's health programs at Basic Health Units. Participants were stratified into three groups: climacteric childbearing age and menopause. The groups answered a sociodemographic and a behavioral questionnaire about lifestyle and sexual life, in addition to performing an oncotic cytology exam, staining the samples using the Papanicolaou technique and the Bethesda system for classification of the results, identifying samples of Gardnerella sp., Candida sp. and Trichomonas vaginalis. Cervical smear was used to perform molecular biology test and detection of Human Papillomavirus, using Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. The samples positive for Human Papillomavirus were submitted to automated sequencing to identify the viral type. Results: A low prevalence of Human Papillomavirus was identified, with the high-risk type corresponding to less than 12% of the total samples. Other sexually transmitted infections also had low infection rates, particularly in menopausal women. The group of women of childbearing age showed the highest rates of active infection. Most of the women did not present cellular alterations, and among the alterations identified, high-grade intraepithelial lesion corresponded to less than 3% of infections, with more prevalent cases in the group of women of childbearing age. Conclusion: With the accomplishment of this research, considerable information was obtained about the sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics of women assisted in this study, in addition to identifying a low prevalence of infection by the Human Papilimavirus in the analyzed groups. It is necessary to carry out further research, considering the clinical relevance of lesions associated with Human Papillomavirus.