Human Papillomavirus Prevalence Among American Indian Women of the Great Plains

American Indian women are not sampled at a sufficient number in national studies to enable estimates of HPV prevalence. Herein, we report the largest study of HPV prevalence in American Indian women (n = 698) conducted to date.High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) causes cervical cancer. In the United States, approximately 40% of women aged 1459 years from all racial and ethnic groups are infected with HPV, and prevalence typically declines with age. However, American Indian (AI) women are insufficiently sampled to permit a population-specific estimate of hrHPV prevalence. Vaginal swabs were self-collected by 698 AI women aged 2165 years from a tribal community in the Great Plains. We estimated the population prevalence of hrHPV and identified predominant genotypes. The combined prevalence of hrHPV genotypes 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66, and 68 was 34.8%. HPV-51 (7.6%), HPV-58 (5.3%), HPV-52 (4.3%), HPV-18 (4.3%), and HPV-16 (3.9%) were most prevalent. hrHPV prevalence declined with age, from 42.2% in women aged 2124 years to 27.9% in women aged 5065 years. HPV-51 was the single most prevalent oncogenic genotype. The combined prevalence of hrHPV among AI women in our sample was high, particularly among women aged 5065 years, for whom hrHPV prevalence was approximately triple that of other races. Cervical cancer screening efforts should be increased, particularly among women from the community aged 30 years and older.