Prevalence of cervical cytological abnormalities in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate retrospectively the prevalence of cervical cytological abnormalities in patient records obtained from healthcare centers in Turkey.

METHOD: Demographic characteristics and data on cervical cytological abnormalities were evaluated from patients who underwent Pap tests in healthcare centers in 2007.

RESULTS

Data were collected from 33 healthcare centers totaling 140334 patients. Overall, the prevalence of cervical cytological abnormalities was 1.8%; the prevalence of ASCUS, ASC-H, LSIL, HSIL, and AGC was 1.07%, 0.07%, 0.3%, 0.17%, and 0.08%, respectively. The prevalence of preinvasive cervical neoplasia was 1.7% and the prevalence of cytologically diagnosed invasive neoplasia was 0.06%.

CONCLUSION

The abnormal cervical cytological prevalence rate in Turkey is lower than in Europe and North America. This might be due to sociocultural differences, lack of population-based screening programs, or a lower HPV prevalence rate in Turkey.