PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Weiss, Barry D.
AU  - Senf, Janet H.
AU  - Udall, Wendy
TI  - The Postpartum Papanicolaou Smear
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2.1.4
DP  - 1989 Jan 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Practice
PG  - 4--9
VI  - 2
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/2/1/4.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/2/1/4.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med1989 Jan 01; 2
AB  - This study was performed to evaluate the importance of obtaining postpartum Papanicolaou (Pap) smears routinely. Four hundred eighty-nine patients receiving pregnancy care had a normal prenatal Pap smear and a repeat Pap smear at their post-partum visit. Twenty-four (4.9 percent) had an abnormal postpartum Pap smear (95 percent confidence interval: 3.1–6.9 percent). Twenty-one (87.5 percent) of the abnormal smears showed squamous dysplasia; three (12.5 percent) showed squamous atypia. No specific risk factors were identified that predicted the occurrence of an abnormal post-partum Pap following a normal prenatal Pap except for age. Women more than 30 years of age were less likely to have an abnormal postpartum Pap smear (P = 0.008). The results of this study support the practice of performing Pap smears during prenatal care and again at postpartum examination, even when the prenatal Pap smear is normal. (J Am Bd Fam Pract 1989; 2:4-9.)