This study aimed to evaluate the influence of prior knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) status in cervical cytopathology readings.
Participants comprised 2,376 women who underwent parallel cytology and HPV-DNA testing. Smears were read twice by the same team, first with previous knowledge of HPV-DNA status.
Overall, 239 (10.2%) smears had their cytology classification altered by the HPV-informed review. Cytology readings with prior knowledge of the HPV status revealed 10.5% of abnormal smears (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or higher), while without prior knowledge, this rate dropped to 7.6%. When HPV status was informed, a significant increase in all categories of altered smears was observed. Cytology with prior knowledge of HPV status detected more cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or higher (CIN 2+) compared with blinded: 86.7% vs 60.0%.
Our data indicate that cytology interpreted with prior knowledge of the HPV status provides higher sensitivity for CIN 2+ lesions while marginally reducing the overall specificity compared with HPV status blinded cytology.