We examined the trend of the prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) cervical infection among Rwandan women living with HIV (WLWH) over a period of 12 years.
The prevalence of cervical hrHPV DNA was measured in three different studies conducted at three different time periods in three different groups of WLWH using three different but comparable hrHPV tests: a MY09/MY11 PCR test in 2005 (RWISA) (n=497), careHPV in 2009-2010 (HPV Demonstration) (n=1,242), and Xpert HPV Test in 2016-2018 (U54) (n=4,734). Prevalences were also adjusted for age groups and CD4 cell count categories.
HrHPV prevalence decreased over time from 42.5% to 32.2% to 26.5%, respectively (p<0.001). CD4 cell counts improved over time (ptrend<0.001) so that the percentage of WLWH with CD4 counts of ≥500 cells/mm3 increased from 7.7% in 2005 to 42.2% in 2009-2010 and 61.1% in 2016-2018. Thus, after adjustment for differences in CD4 counts and age, hrHPV prevalences were much more similar over time: 32.6% for RWISA, 30.6% for HPV Demonstration, and 27.1% for U54 (p=0.007).
The prevalence of hrHPV among WLWH has decreased over the past decade most likely the result of improved immune reconstitution due to better HIV care and management in Rwanda.

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