Cytologic screening for cervical cancer in southern Iran.

In an 11 year study of cytologic examinations from the southern part of Iran with a 99 percent Moslem population, the prevalence rate of invasive cervical carcinomas in 35,222 women screened for the first time was 2.3 per 1,000 examinations. With the initiation of a mass screening program begun in 1974, the rates of CIS and moderate and severe dysplasia rose threefold. These findings indicate that carcinoma of the cervix is an important problem in Iran, despite previous reports of the contrary. There is, thus, a clear need for encouraging and expanding the mass screening program which has been initiated in this country.