TABLE 3.

Cluster analysis of HPV gene multiplex PCR ratios of asymptomatic and cervical cancer smears

Gene ratio	Asymptomatic smears		Cervical cancer whole group analysis		Cervical cancer cluster analysisa
	Mean ± SD	Range	Mean ± SD	Range	Mean ± SD (low, high)	n (low, high)	F	P
L1/E6	1.27 ± 0.28	1.03-1.67	0.47 ± 0.48	0.00-2.00	0.22 ± 0.23, 1.03 ± 0.39	45, 21	110.22	<0.001
E1/E6	1.11 ± 0.26	0.91-1.49	0.90 ± 0.62	0.00-2.8	0.58 ± 0.36, 1.59 ± 0.47	45, 21	90.71	<0.001
E2/E6	0.8 ± 0.27	0.55-1.18	0.73 ± 0.62	0.00-2.6	0.40 ± 0.32, 1.49 ± 0.49	46, 20	113.75	<0.001
E1/E2	1.5 ± 0.21	1.29-1.8	0.81 ± 0.90	0.00-5.66	0.52 ± 0.36, 1.79 ± 1.40	51, 15	103.33	<0.001
E2/(E1*E6)	0.001 ± 0.0005	0.0006-0.002	0.0025 ± 0.003	0.00-0.014	0.0005 ± 0.0005, 0.0036 ± 0.001, 0.01 ± 0.002b	41, 18, 7b	307.18	<0.001

^an, number of cases assigned to a cluster; F, value of Fisher-Snedocor test; P, significance level of difference between the clusters.

^bValues correspond here to: low, medium, high.