The psychological costs of inadequate cervical smear test results

The purpose of the study is to investigate, for the first time, the psychological impact of an inadequate smear test result. A prospective questionnaire design was used, and the setting was a single English cervical screening laboratory. Two groups of women receiving either a normal test result (n=226) or either a first or nonconsecutive inadequate smear test result (n=180) participated. The main outcome measures included State anxiety (STAI) and concern about test result, assessed within 4 weeks of receipt of results, and attendance for a repeat cervical smear within 3 months. Compared to women with normal test results, women with inadequate smear test results had higher state anxiety (P=0.025), were more concerned about their results (P