While high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) DNA testing is central to cervical cancer screening, its limited specificity continues to challenge effective triage, particularly in resource-constrained settings. This retrospective cohort study evaluated whether cycle threshold (CT) values from real-time PCR assays—reflecting HPV viral load—could improve detection of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2+). Among hrHPV-positive women aged 25–65 years who underwent colposcopy and biopsy, lower CT values were modestly but significantly associated with increasing lesion severity .
In women with non-HPV16/18 infections , applying a CT cutoff of <32.94 improved discriminatory performance , achieving high sensitivity but limited specificity. Although CT values alone lacked sufficient accuracy to serve as standalone triage biomarkers, their adjunctive use alongside genotype…
