Cervical cytology in an urban Nigeria population

The prevalence of cytologic abnormality was investigated among two population groups in an urban setting: those responding to a mass cytologic screening campaign and are without symptoms and those referred on account of symptoms or signs suggestive of cervical pathology. Among a total of 1550 clients so screened a 6% incidence of cytologic abnormality was found among the asymptomatic group contrasting with an overall 23% prevalence in the whole group. Even though a prevalence of 90% was found among the early symptomatic group, only 2 cases of CIS was found giving a prevalence of 13/10,000. This suggests cervical screening could prove highly effective in identifying cervical pathology at a significantly highly treatable state in this population.