title: Is there a seasonal difference in the detection of Trichomonas vaginalis by cervical cytology?
abstract: This objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of a Trichomonas vaginalis diagnosis in routine Papanicolaou smears and whether it is seasonal. We reviewed the diagnosis rendered for 93,681 Papanicolaou smears evaluated at a medical school hospital laboratory between 1992 and 1997. The occurrence of a diagnosis of T. vaginalis was analyzed by year, by quarter, and by month using a generalized linear regression model. The prevalence of a T. vaginalis diagnosis during the 6-year study period was 3.1%. The between-month and between-quarter comparisons of prevalence were not statistically different. In the population reported here, the prevalence of a Papanicolaou smear diagnosis of T. vaginalis was low and no seasonal difference in making this diagnosis was identified.
authors.affiliation: Medical Corps, U.S. Navy, USA.
authors.forename: Sydney
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shrader
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gaughan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D014247:Trichomonas Vaginitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D014246:Trichomonas vaginalis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014626:Vaginal Smears