Seroprevalence of human papillomavirus type 16 in children

Abstract

We evaluated the prevalence of antibodies to human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 in a representative sample of children 6-11 years of age in the United States. Serum samples and questionnaire data were collected between 1991 and 1994, for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. HPV-16-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies were detected by an HPV-16 L1 virus-like particle-based enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. Overall, 2.4% of 1316 children 6-11 years of age were seropositive. Seroprevalence was higher in boys than in girls (3.5% vs. 1.2%; P = .08) and in children >7 years of age than in children ≤7 years of age (3.3% vs. 0.4%; P