Cytologic findings in oral contraceptive users among Israeli Jewish women.

A group of 3317 Jewish Israeli women were studied to evaluate a possible correlation between previous and recent oral contraceptive (OC) usage and cervical cytopathologic findings in Papanicolaou smears. A positive correlation was established between OC usage and the occurrence of inflammatory findings; the rate of inflammatory changes depended on the length of usage with a time lapse of at least 1 year preceding the appearance of such inflammatory changes. The cessation of OC usage was associated with a decrease in the rate of inflammatory findings. No cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or malignancy were found. (authors)