Cancer of the cervix--a sexually transmitted disease. Cytologic screening in a prostitute population.

The epidemiology of cervical cancer has been the subject of many articles centered around the question, "Is cancer of the cervix a sexually transmitted disease? A group of 750 Taiwan prostitutes had cervical cytology performed at the time of required gonorrhea screening. The prostitutes represented a unique group in which the variables of frequent intercourse with multiple partners and multiple infection can be separated from early coital experience. Cervical cytology was obtained and processed by the Pathology Department at Navy Medical Research Unit No. 2. A bilingual questionnaire was completed with the aid of a medical interpreter. The results included only eight of the 750 specimens in the "dysplasia plus" category for a rate of 10.7 per 1,000. The low yield of abnormal cytology suggests the factors of multiple partners, frequent intercourse, and high gonorrhea infection rate are not significant epidemiologically if they occur after the phase of active metaplasia, occurring during the first pregnancy or early adolescence.