MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES AND CYTOPATHIC EFFECTS OF ORGANISMS IN CERVICAL SMEAR OF INFERTILE VERSUS FERTILE WOMEN: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

BACKGROUND: Infertility is a challenging health problem around the world affecting 22% of women in Pakistan. Approximately 75% of women are infected with sexually transmitted diseases during their life at least once, and present with cervical epithelial cell lesions. Sexually transmitted infections are responsible for pelvic inflammatory disease which is known to be the most common cause of infertility. The rationale behind this study is to investigate whether infertile women have a higher incidence of infectious organisms in their cervical smears than the fertile controls. METHODS: One hundred and fifty subjects in total were recruited in the study sample. Cervical smears of 100 infertile women were compared with 50 fertile women in the age range of 20-40 years. Fifty fertile patients were taken as controls (Group A), 50 primary infertile (Group B) and 50 secondary infertile patients (Group C) in outpatient departments of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. RESULTS: A significant difference was observed among the three groups regarding the prevalence of infectious organisms in their cervical smears (p value < 0.004), with higher rate in infertile women. In addition, the secondary infertile women group showed significant rise in the rate of isolation of infectious organisms as compared to primary infertile women. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that infectious organisms are present at a remarkably higher rate in infertile women in comparison to fertile women. Women with secondary infertility have a greater possibility of colonization with infectious organisms than women with primary infertility. Thus, it is suggested that