title: Development of a database for cervical cytology reports.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cervical cancer is an important cause of female mortality. Its incidence, however, has been drastically reduced by early detection using the Papanicolaou screening method. As a result of the widespread use of this method, a large amount of cytological information  has to be stored, printed and handled efficiently. This paper describes a database system designed to manage information from studies of cervical cytology, which was developed at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, National University of La Plata, Argentina.
  
  
  METHODS
  Information needs  were assessed by interviews with physicians and analysis of cytology reports. The database was developed using MS Access 2007.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The database is designed to collect, display, sort and print patient demographics, clinical data and cytological studies. Diagnoses can be stored  either as international classifications or as free text. The database contains 45 tables and 50 forms for data entry, editing and display. This information can be exported to spreadsheets and statistical packages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This database gives users easy access to patients' cytological  diagnoses and provides a useful tool for physicians and public health researchers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, National University of La Plata (UNLP), Argentina.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dreizzen
authors.forename: María Silvia
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Rosa Beatriz
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Kitagawa
authors.forename: Félix José
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Corrons
authors.forename: Osvaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Spinelli
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina; D003628:Database Management Systems; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D020380:Needs Assessment; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D012985:Software Design; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014626:Vaginal Smears