Prevalence of intraepithelial lesion in cervical screening cytology in a First-level Care Unit

Cervical cancer represents the second leading cause of malignant neoplasm mortality in women globally. Cervical cytology is the most important screening study. It is therefore of interest to know the prevalence of cytological alterations in the Mexican population. In this study the objective was to calculate the prevalence of intraepithelial lesion in cervical screening cytology.

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was developed; the sample was 379 patients from 21 to 64 years of age; we included patients who underwent cervical screening cytology registered in the Detección Oportuna de Cáncer Cervicouterino (DOC-CACU) program database. A descriptive analysis of the data was performed.

A prevalence of intraepithelial lesion of 4.49% was found. The 3.17% corresponded to LIEBG and 1.32% to LIEAG. No reports of invasive carcinoma were found. Of these patients, 64.71% corresponded to the age group from 41 to 60 years. 52.94% had had their last cytology in the previous 3 years or more and 35.29% were in postmenopause.

A prevalence consistent with what was described in the literature was found. More than half of the affected patients had their last cytology in the previous 3 or more years and corresponded to the age group from 41 to 60 years. A high proportion of patients were in postmenopause.