Comparison of the digene hybrid capture 2 and Roche cobas 4800 HPV tests for detection of CIN2+ in a referral population in Japan

To examine validity of the hybrid capture‐2 and cobas 4800 HPV tests, 396 women including 188 women visiting for cancer screening, and 208 referral cases were examined with both HPV tests and the liquid‐based cervical Pap test. Concordant results between the HPV assays were observed in 333 cases (coincident rates; 84.1%, kappa value; 0.682). The sensitivity for CIN2+ was 98.6% (69/70) and 82.9% (58/70) for HC2 and cobas 4800 (McNemar's test; P = 0.0026). The sensitivity for CIN3+ was 97.2% (35/36) and 83.3% (30/36) (Not significant, P = 0.0736). The specificities for CIN2+ or CIN3+ did not differ between the tests. The HPV16, 52, 18, 31, and 58 were the most common types in CIN2+ cases. Reasonable sensitivity for HPV52, and cross‐hybridization with some probable high‐risk HPV type such as HPV82 explain the higher sensitivity of HC2 than cobas 4800 in detection of CIN2+ in a referral population in Japan.