Persistently high prevalence of HPV16 and rising prevalence of non-16/18 HR-HPV genotypes in cervical precancer and cancer in Latvia in 2016-2024 shape the severity of cervical disease

HPV16 remained the most prevalent HR-HPV, while HPV18 decreased. Other HR-HPV genotypes (HPV 66/45/39/31/33) demonstrated an increase in prevalence. Cervical disease severity was linked to specific HR-HPV loads and the number infecting HR-HPVs. These findings highlight the need for extended HR-HPV genotyping with determination of viral load, and request more epidemiological studies analyzing historical and current samples.