Abnormal cervical cytology: a preliminary report on 21,372 women from the Western Region of Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

This is a preliminary report on 21 372 patients who attended the gynaecological out-patient department of three major hospitals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for cytological examination of their cervices for cervical dysplasia. Out of those, 10571 [49.5%] were examined due to symptomatology of cervical pathology [Group A] and 10801 [50.5%] were screened routinely by cervical smear [Group B]. The detection rate was 0.24%. When comparing the detection rate of the two groups, we found that Group B had a lower detection rate than Group A, which was statistically significant [p<0.0010]. The distribution of nationality, age groups and percentage of cervical dysplasia in each group are discussed and interpretation of the results and recommendations are presented