The distribution and prevalence of human papillomavirus in women in mainland China

We conducted a systematic review of the epidemiology of high‐risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in mainland Chinese women to provide a general profile for the application and subsequent effectiveness evaluation of HPV vaccines. The PubMed, Web of Science, Medline (Ovid), China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases were used for the literature search. The epidemiological studies published from January 2000 to June 2018 on high‐risk HPVs in mainland Chinese women were investigated to systematically evaluate their epidemiological status. A total of 198 eligible studies were included. The results of meta‐analysis showed that the overall infection rate of high‐risk HPVs in mainland Chinese women was 19.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.1%‐20.9%), and the top 5 subtypes with the highest infection rates were 16, 52, 58, 53, and 18. The overall infection rates of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia I (CINI), CINII+, and cervical cancer patients were 59.6% (95% CI, 52.7%‐66.4%), 84.8% (95% CI, 81.2%‐88.5%), and 89.9% (95% CI, 86.6%‐93.1%), respectively. The high‐risk HPV infections and common subtypes in women of various ages in various regions were different, and the high‐risk HPVs and subtypes in cervical cancer patients in various regions were also different. In conclusion, we systematically analyzed the HPV infections in women who live on the Chinese mainland. The epidemiology of high‐risk HPVs in mainland Chinese women is basically consistent with that for the rest of the world. The HPV vaccines currently licensed in China could cover the major prevalent high‐risk HPV subtypes in China, providing a basis for the development of a cervical cancer screening strategy and vaccine implementation in China.