Population-Based Cervical Screening Outcomes in Turkey over a Period of Approximately Nine and a Half Years with Emphasis on Results for Women Aged 30-34

Purpose: To appraise the frequency of cervical cytological abnormalities in a population at normal risk viaanalysing the archive records of cytology for the period of approximately 9,5 years, comparing them with patientdemographic charecteristics, and discuss the results for women under age of 35. Materials and
Methods: A totalof 32,578 cases of Pap smears were retrieved and analysed from our archive included the Pap tests performedbetween January 2001 and April 2010 at the Early Cancer Screening, Diagnosing and Education Center by theconsent of three pathologists via utilizing the Bethesda System Criteria 2001 and the results were comparedwith some demographical characteristics.
Results: Our rate of the cervical cytological abnormality was 1.83%,with ASCUS in 1.18%, LSIL in 0.39, HSIL in 0.16%, AGUS in 0.07%, squamous cell carcinoma in 0.02%, andadenoarcinoma in 0.006%. Cytological abnormalities were detected mostly in those with higher age, lower parity,and premenopausal period whereas the smoking status was without influence. Bacterial vaginosis (5.6%) wasthe most frequent infectious finding (Candida albicans 2.7%; Actinomyces sp. 1.3%; and Trichomonas vaginalis0.2%) detected on the smears. The rate of abnormal cervical cytology was 9.5% among the women aged between30-34.
Conclusions: Early detection of the cervical abnormalities by means of the regular cervical cancer screeningprogrammes is useful to attenuate the incidence, mortality, and morbidity of cervical cancer. Our prevalence ofthe cytological abnormalities was much lower than the one in Western populations in general but very similarto those reported from other Islamic countries that may be explained by the conservative lifestyle and the lowerprevalence of HPV in Turkey. A remarkable rate of abnormal cervical cytology of women aged 30-34 was pointedout in the present study.