Li W, et al. - Given that cervical HR-HPV (high-risk human papillomavirus) persistence represents the main risk factor for cervical cancer, researchers focused on the link of age and viral factors with HR-HPV persistence. From multiple (n=9) medical centers in China, data were obtained from 343,128 women who underwent 390,411 tests performed by the Cervista HR-HPV assay (Data C3) and 157,123 women who underwent 206,505 tests performed by the GenoArray HR-HPV assay (Data G14). The test results were integrated and 9234 HPV (human papillomavirus)-specific baseline-negative records for time-to-event analyses were identified. A time-dependent association of age and viral factors with HPV clearance was reported in this study. Only following 400 days of infection, attenuated HPV clearance was noted in relation to older age. Initially, HPV clearance was promoted by co-infection but with the persistence of infection, reduction as well as reversal of the effect was evident. In addition, they found that recurrent same-type infection cleared slower as compared to the previous one.