Cervical Smear Analysis of Women in Cross River State, Nigeria
Ayodele Omotoso *
Department of Pathology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
Patience Odusolu
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
Godstime Irabor
Department of Pathology, Saba University School of Medicine, Saba, Netherlands
Olukayode Oshatuyi
ARISH Specialist Laboratory (Diagnostic, Research and Forensic), Calabar, Nigeria
Wilson Nnenna
ARISH Specialist Laboratory (Diagnostic, Research and Forensic), Calabar, Nigeria
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: Cervical cancer is the most common genital malignancy and one of the leading causes of death among the female population. Cervical cancer continues to be with high prevalence among the populace in Africa. It is one of the cancers whose incidence has been drastically reduced due to continuous systematic screening.
Aim: To evaluate the cervical smear analysis of women in Cross river State, Nigeria.
Methodology: This is a cross sectional study of cervical smear of women in 5 out of the 18 local government areas of Cross River State (CRS), Nigeria. These local governments were randomly selected. These local government areas include, Akpabuyo, Biase, Calabar south, Municipality and Akamkpa local government areas. The primary health care centres in each of these five local governments were visited, Pap smear was done for the women who visited these primary health care centre and the results were analysed.
Results: A total of 114 cervical smears were analyzed. The age range of the subjects is between 20-69 years. The mean age in this study is 34.2 years. In all, 7.0% of the cervical smear show squamous intraepithelial lesions out of which 6.14% had low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and 0.9% had high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). Cervical smear that were negative for intraepithelial lesion had a prevalence of 93.0%.
Conclusion: The prevalence of squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) is relatively high in semi-rural areas in Cross River State and there is urgent need for improvement in screening programs in order to reduce the incidence rate of the cervical cancer.
Keywords: Pap smear, intraepithelial, cervical cancer, Calabar