Effect of 2 referral intervals on diagnostic discordance between cytology and histology at a colposcopy clinic.

Objective: To determine the effect of the time interval between cervical cytology screening and histology at treatment on grade of cervical disease.

Methods: In a retrospective cross-sectional study at a colposcopy clinic in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, data were compared from women with cytologic abnormalities referred for colposcopy between April 2003 and June 2010 to determine whether early (≤ 180 days) or late (> 180 days) referral had an impact on dysplasia grade.

Results: In the early and late referral groups, there were 213 (13.