PREMALIGNANT LESIONS AND MICROINVASIVE CARCINOMA OF THE CERVIX IN JEWISH WOMEN - AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL-STUDY

During 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 [Israel]. 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 17/1000. Epidemiological characteristics of the 69 patients with CIN and microinvasion revealed that: these women were younger than those with negative cytology; they had more sexual partners and pregnancies; they started their sexual activities earlier; 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; 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.