Abstract

Background To know if the hormonal changes during pregnancy and the mode of delivery affect HPV human papillomavirus infection and on cervical cytological changes concerning the rates of persistence progression and regression in the postpartum period following hormonal normalization Methods A prospective study was carried out on 57 pregnant women who attended the Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital between 2015 and 2017 who were positive for cervical cytological changes and HPV during their antenatal visits by TCT PAP smear and hybrid capture test2 respectively Initial and postpartum results of these tests were compared where the rates of persistence progression and regression of HPV and the cervical cytological changes were analyzed For analysis of the results a control group of 57 nonpregnant patients from the gynecological department was included and followed in this study Results The postpartum evaluation of the pregnant cohort revealed a significantly higher tendency to spontaneous regression as compared to the non-pregnant control group 59 9 versus 31 6 p 0 005 and the mode of delivery did not affect cervical cytological changes and HPV infection p 0 140 Conclusion The high regression rate suggests that in the absence of invasive disease definite management of abnormal cervical cytology can be carried out in the postpartum period