A Comparative Study to Determine the Effect of Age and Parity  on Vaginal Epithelial Cells Diameters

M. Al-Hilli, Nadia; A. Abdul-Hussain, Haythem; M. Burhan, Mariamm; A. Al-Mahdy, Hameda; M. Mekky, Asmaa

	A Comparative Study to Determine the Effect of Age and Parity on Vaginal Epithelial Cells Diameters
Medical Journal of Babylon
Article 1, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 68-73
Authors
Nadia M. Al-Hilli; Haythem A. Abdul-Hussain; Mariamm M. Burhan; Hameda A. Al-Mahdy; Asmaa M. Mekky
Abstract
The vagina is lined by stratified sequamous epithelium which is under the effect of hormonal & environmental factors. The vaginal epithelium is poorly studied & very little & restricted studies made about this subject. This cross-sectional study is aimed at studying the effect of age & parity on vaginal epithelial cells diameter. It was conducted in Al-Bakarly primary health center in Hilla. 82 women who attend the center for various reasons were recruited. After taking history & physical examination, vaginal swabs were taken to obtain vaginal epithelial cells, the slides examined under light microscope to measure vaginal epithelial cell diameter in five epithelial cells & the mean was taken for each swab. A significant difference in mean cell diameter was found in different age groups.The least diameter (5.35 µm) in those aged ≤20 years while the largest diameter (6.50 µm) in those aged 31-40 years. A significant difference in mean epithelial cell diameter was also found in women of different parity. There was a significant increment in mean cell diameter with increasing parity. The conclusion of this study is that there is a significant effect of both age & parity on vaginal epithelial cell diameter & these factors must be considered when interpretting vaginal swabs & smears.

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