Premalignant lesions and microinvasive carcinoma of the cervix in Jewish women: an epidemiological study

During the years 1979-1982 cervical smears were taken from 3974 women at the cervical pathology unit at the Serlin Maternity Hospital, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv. There were 69 patients with positive cytology who had colposcopic directed biopsies which revealed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) or a microinvasive lesion; a prevalence rate of 17 per 1000. Epidemiological characteristics of the 69 patients with CIN and microinvasion revealed that these women were younger than those with negative cytology, had more sexual partners and pregnancies, started their sexual activities earlier, and only half of them were married. In the whole series 57% of the women were of Ashkenazi origin and 43% were of Eastern and Sephardic origin, whereas in the group with positive cytology the proportion of women of Eastern and Sephardic origin was twice that of Ashkenazi origin, 64 and 36%, respectively. Only 4.5% of women in the CIN group declared themselves as religiously observant compared with 9.8% in the control group.