title: Prevalence of abnormal Pap smears in a consecutive and previously unscreened population in Romania.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of abnormal cervical smears in a previously unscreened and asymptomatic population in Romania and to compare the data with those from other countries in Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a retrospective study, data were reviewed from smears obtained from women in Romania who had been referred to the gynecologist between January 2006 and December 2011. The smears were collected through 3 regional opportunistic programs of cervical screening and were classified according to the Bethesda system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the study period, 50536 smear tests were carried out. Of these, 100 smears (0.2%) were unsatisfactory and excluded from the study. Among the remaining 50436 smears, 2965 patients (5.9%) had abnormal epithelial changes. Most of the abnormal smears were represented by atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (2.6% of all smears). The data confirmed that there is a high prevalence of high-grade intraepithelial squamous-type lesions (0.9% of all smears) in Romania, and of abnormal smears in women younger than 25years of age (14.0% of all abnormal smears).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data show that there is a high prevalence of epithelial abnormalities among cervical smears in Romania compared with other European countries that run a national screening program.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Medicine Targu Mures, Targu Mures, Romania; Histopat-Invest Laboratory, Targu Mures, Romania. Electronic address: stolnicu@gmx.net.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stolnicu
authors.affiliation: Citos Laboratory, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Musca
authors.affiliation: Citosan Plus Laboratory, Constanta, Romania.
authors.forename: Dorian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Micu
authors.affiliation: Citosan Plus Laboratory, Constanta, Romania.
authors.forename: Luminita
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Micu
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology, University of Medicine Targu Mures, Targu Mures, Romania.
authors.forename: Cosmin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moldovan
authors.affiliation: Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic No. 1, University of Medicine Targu Mures, Targu Mures, Romania.
authors.forename: Lucian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Puscasiu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Abnormal cervical smears; Cytology; Prevalence