Prevalence of abnormal pap smears among Iraqi women attending the Al Zahra'a cervical screening clinic in AL Najaf city

Abstract

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in Iraq, there were 2.1 cases of cervical cancer for every 100,000 females of all ages. Moreover, 10.21 million Iraqi women between the ages of 15 and 44 were at risk for developing cancer.Method: At Al Zahra Teaching Hospital in Al Najaf City, a cross-sectional study was carried out over the course of nine months, from January 1 to October 1 2022. Throughout the research period, all female patients who went to the alzahraa cervical screening unit were included (112). At the cytology lab, slides were evaluated using the Bethesda Scoring System, and smears were collected using the Ayre's spatula. Highlighting relationships between cytological results and socio-demographic details using the Chi-square test. Binary logistic regression was used for the significant variables. In our statistical analysis, a significance level of 0.05 was considered to be present.Results: The majority of the sample (91.1%) had normal pap smear results. 8.9% of the remaining women reported abnormal pap smear results. Vaginal discharge (42%), after-coital bleeding (1.8%), and irregular bleeding (25%) were the most frequently reported patient concerns. Cervical cancer in just one case was found. The link between abnormal pap smears and females under the age of 40 was statistically significant (p = 0.047 for both). Smoking increased the risks of having abnormal pap smears [p=0.000; OR=0.011; CI 95% (0,001-0.095)], whereas being 40 years old increased the odds [OR=6.559; CI 95% (.801-53.727)].Conclusions: Ten percent of the sample had abnormal pap smear results, and there was a very significant association between smoking and abnormal pap smear results in females under 40. A successful cervical cancer screening programme must be activated, promoted, and made aware of along with the risk factors that it entails.