Validity of Vaginal Self-Collected Samples for Human Papillomavirus Deoxyribonucleic Acid Detection among Women in Rural Delta State, Nigeria

Background: With the emergence of human papillomavirus-based primary screening, the option of vaginal self-collected sample may overcome the barrier of speculum examination. Despite evidence of high acceptability of self-collection, there is need to evaluate the validity of such samples for HPV detection. This research aimed to determine the validity of self-collected vaginal samples for HPV detection among Nigerian women. Methods: A cross-sectional analytic study was conducted among 230 asymptomatic women, selected by multi-stage sampling method in Orhuwhorun community in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State between May to June 2021. Participants were instructed on self-collection (SC) of vaginal samples using Flobam female sample collection kit and a clinician-collected (CC) cervical sample was obtained using a similar swab. Paired specimens were tested for HPV genotyping using 21 HPV GenoArray Diagnostic kits. SPSS vs 25 was used for data analysis. Agreement between the two collection methods was calculated using concordance and discordance rates and Cohen's kappa statistic. A 2 by 2 contingency table was used to calculate sensitivity and specificity of both sampling methods. A p