A prospective study to evaluate the correlation between Reid colposcopic index impression and biopsy histology

To determine the strength of correlation between colposcopic impression using Reid index and biopsy histology.

In a colposcopy referral clinic in Tehran University, Iran. Colposcopy was carried out using Reid colposcopic index (RCI) scoring system and directed biopsy on 344 women between March 2004 and October 2005 by fellows supervised by a board-certified gynecologic oncologist. Results were retrospectively compared with a previous study carried out on 353 women by the same physicians. In this previous study, the colposcopy findings did not use RCI index; the significance of association between these 2 studies was assessed by chi(2) and kappa statistics.

The association between colposcopic impression and biopsy histology was highly significant (p < .001), both in RCI colposcopy group and general colposcopy group. However, the strength of the correlation between colposcopy impression and biopsy histology in RCI colposcopy group was more than the general colposcopy group (0.74 vs 0.45). The positive predictive value of any colposcopic abnormality for any histologic abnormalities in the RCI group was 92%. The negative predictive value of a benign colposcopic impression was 70.5%. The sensitivity was 74%, and the specificity was 90.7%.

The good correlation between colposcopic impression and histological diagnosis by using Reid index in colposcopy would produce higher agreement and strength of the correlation. Therefore, the Reid index can be used as a reproducible technique which is easy to learn in colposcopic clinic.