title: The prevalence of abnormal cervical cytology in a sexually transmitted diseases clinic.
abstract: Women seeking sexually transmitted disease (STD) services are at high risk of human papillomavirus infections. Cervical cytological screening with Papanicolau staining (Pap smear) is not consistently offered at public STD clinics. We reviewed Pap smear results on a series of 1000 female STD clinic attendees, abstracted demographics, risk behaviours and STD diagnosis from the clinical record and tested for associations with abnormal Pap smear. In all, 5.7% of the satisfactory specimens (56/993) were abnormal; increasing age category, genital warts, and chlamydia infections were independently associated with an abnormal Pap smear in multivariate analysis. Routine Pap smear screening provided satisfactory results in the STD clinic and, where population-based programmes are not available, should be fully integrated into public STD care, (particularly in settings serving younger women).
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, Division of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Human Virology, 725 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. mkanno@pol.net
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kanno
authors.forename: R H N
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Zenilman
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Erbelding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology*; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D014626:Vaginal Smears