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Materials and Methods:
This is a retrospective study of all Pap smears performed for women attending the Family Practice Clinic in Nablus, West Bank, Palestine during
the year of 2002. Data were collected from files of all women who underwent pap smear test during that period. The Family Practice Clinic in
Nablus is a private clinic operated by American Board certified female doctor. Women from all social classes attend this clinic for their medical
care including gynecological care. A pap test is offered to every woman who
undergoes gynecologic exam in the clinic provided that she did not have a
test done in the previous year. A questionnaire containing data about patient's age, occupation, education, smoking, pap awareness, if a previous
pap was done, parity, contraception use, menstrual period, genital infections,
and family history of cancer is usually filled out and attached to her file. All
pap smear samples from this clinic are sent for pathology reports to Medlab (Nablus). This pathology lab. follows Bethesda System for
reporting pap smear results which adopts descriptive diagnoses, (Benign cellular changes including infections, Reactive Changes including
inflammation, Atrophy, & Intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD)related
cellular changes, and finally Epithelia cell Abnormalities including Atypical
squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LGSIL), High-grade squamous
intraephielial lesion (HGSIL), Atypical glandular cells of undermined significance
(AGUS) and Squamous cell carcinoma (7).
A total number of pap tests done were 201.Data from the filled questionnaire and pathology reports for all the tests were computed and
analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 10.0
A relationship between cervical cytology results and all variables in the
questionnaire is calculated applying Chi Square formula with p = .05 level
of significance.
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Results:
Demographic and Social Profile of the study sample: Table 1 shows that most of the study sample were 20-45 years old (75.1%), most of them were
nonsmokers (81.8%), most of them were housewives (79.1%), and more than a half had high school education or below (59.7%).
Table
1. Frequency and percent of patient's age, smoking, occupation, and
education (sociodemographic profile of the study sample)
|
Variable |
Frequency |
Percent |
| Age |
| <
20 |
2 |
1.0 |
| 20-45 |
151 |
75.1 |
| >45 |
48 |
23.9 |
| Total |
201 |
100.0 |
|
Smoking |
| Yes |
38 |
18.9 |
| No |
163 |
81.1 |
| Total |
201 |
100.0 |
|
Occupation |
| housewife |
159 |
79.1 |
| employed |
36 |
17.9 |
| laborer |
6 |
3.0 |
| Total |
201 |
100.0 |
|
Education |
| No |
16 |
8.0 |
| High
school or less |
120 |
59.7 |
| College
or more |
65 |
32.3 |
| Total |
201 |
100.0 |
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