Determination of Prevalence and Clinical Significance of Detection of Micro-organisms in Pap Smear with Seasonal Variation

Abstract

Introduction: The most common problem in reproductive age group women is vaginitis. In the vaginal flora an extensive and diverse spectrum of pathogenic agents may be observed. The important infectious agents in vaginal flora are Bacterial Vaginosis (BV), Candida (Can) and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV). The pap smear is a screening test to diagnose cervical cancer and has also been used as a diagnostic test in cervical infection caused by different pathogenic organisms. Aim: To determine the prevalence and clinical significance of micro-organisms in pap smears. Materials and Methods: A two year retrospective Pap smear study was done from January 2014 to December 2015, in a tertiary care unit, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Thandalam, Chennai, India. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence, clinical significance and seasonal variation in cervicovaginal infections. The Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant for statistical evaluation. Results: The total number of pap smears examined was 6424, out of which the total pap positive smears for infectious organisms were 896(13.94%). The prevalence of organisms among total infectious organisms is 51.4% (BV), 30% (Can), 12.4% (TV) and mixed infections 3.5% and 2.7% (BV+TV and BV+Can). Comparison of seasonal variation in prevalence of vaginal infectious agents was also analyzed. Conclusion: It is concluded that cervical cytology is important for diagnosis of cervical infections. The most important cause of cervico-vaginitis are bacterial vaginosis, next important cause is candidiasis. It is important to mobilize all reproductive age women to undergo pap smear examination and to prevent complications caused by infectious agents.

Keywords

• clue cells
• cytobrush
• pruritis
• vaginal discharge
• yeast forms