Cervical cytological abnormalities among attendants to cancer early detection clinic in Baghdad, Iraq

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the easiest gynecologic cancer to be prevented and diagnosed using regular screening tests and follow-up and the conventional cytology test can detect pre-cancerous and cancerous cells in uterine cervix. The main objective of the study is to analysis various spectrum of cytopathological abnormalities of both symptomatic and asymptomatic women and also to determine the possible association of this abnormality with risk factors and to address the need for cancer screening programs in Iraq. Methods: A retrospective study of all cervical s mears received and processed at the Department of Pathology, AL-Alwiya Teaching Hospital, between January 2018 and December 2019.Those with inadequate data were excluded from the study. Classification was by the Bethesda system and analysis was by simple statistical methods. Results: A total of 1096 women were enrolled in this study, 71.9% of women had normal cytology, and 28.1% of women had abnormal cytology, the prevalence of abnormal cytology not association with any studied risk factors (age, age at marriage, HPV infection, parity, duration of hormonal contraception use, smoking habit) . Conclusion: Screening for cervical cancer would assist in early diagnosis and treatment of such cancer who are not exposed to risk factors.