EFFECT OF SMOKING ON MICRONUCLEATED EPITHELIAL-CELLS IN SMEARS FROM THE UTERINE CERVIX

A pilot study was conducted to determine whether any relationship exis ts between micronucleated cell rates of female uterine cervical epithe lium and current smoking status, Cervical uterine cells obtained from 118 pre-menopausal females, seen between September 1994 and June 1995 at the Occupational Medecine Interprofessional Association (AIMT), wer e tested for micronucleated cells by the micronucleus assay. Of the 68 subjects taken from this population that provided a least a 1000 anal ysed cells, 36 were non-smokers and 32 were smokers. Age distributions were different between smokers and non-smokers but results showed tha t age had no effect on micronucleated cell levels. Micronucleated cerv ical cell rates reached 0.66 parts per thousand in non-smokers and 1.1 1 parts per thousand in smokers: these two levels were not statistical ly different, No association was noted between number of cigarettes sm oked and micronucleated cell levels. Results suggested that consuming 5-20 cigarettes per day was not enough to show a smoking effect on cer vical micronucleated cells. A test with a greater number of female sub jects would be necessary to confirm this.