Prevalence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in sexually active teenagers and young adults. Results of data analysis of mass Papanicolaou screening of 796,337 women in the United States in 1981

One of the largest nationally reported cases of carcinoma in situ in the teenage population of the United States is based on 1 year's computerized data from Cancer Screening Services. In 1981, 796,337 women were screened with an average age of 25.9. Of these, 18,589 (2.33%) had abnormal cytology. In 194,069 (24.3%) of the 796,337 patients aged 15 to 19, 3,651 (1.9%) had abnormal cytology. In 17% of all patients with abnormal cytology biopsy of the cervix was performed. The prevalence rate of dysplasia and carcinoma in situ was 18.8/1,000 for ages 15 to 19 and 28.8/1,000 for ages 20 to 24. Biopsy-proved cases of all grades of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in the teenage population indicates a prevalence of 13.3/1,000. Sixty cases of grade 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (carcinoma in situ) were diagnosed by biopsy in the teenage population for a projected prevalence rate of 2.6/1,000. No invasive squamous cell carcinoma was found in this age group. This emphasizes the importance of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia as a developing medical and public health problem in this age group and indicates that teenagers of any "permissive society" should be considered as "high risk" and included in screening programs.