What does an abnormal smear test result mean?

Having an abnormal smear test result can be worrying. As you have discovered, if you do have an abnormal smear test result you will be asked to have three normal smear results at six-monthly intervals before it’s deemed safe to go back to normal screening every three years.

Just be aware that an abnormal result does not mean that you have cervical cancer. It simply means that there are some changes to the cells in your cervix.

It’s common for a test to come back as inadequate or unsatisfactory, which means that the sample of cells taken during the test wasn’t good enough to provide conclusive results. Very often these cells will have returned to normal by the time you have your repeat test. However, the fact that your cervix was inflamed threw up an additional, but not uncommon, problem.

The inflammation of your cervix could be caused by a number of things, most of which will not be very serious, for example vaginitis. You can find more information about the common causes of inflammation here.

However, sometimes it could be caused by a more serious condition such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), or by a sexually transmitted infection (STI) such as chlamydia. If you did have PID you would probably have other symptoms which may have been picked up on during your smear test. If you do have any concerns about having an STI, visit your doctor (GP) or your nearest Gum clinic to arrange to have some tests.

It’s a worrying time for any woman when she has an abnormal smear test result. However, it’s important to remember that it’s not a test for cancer; it’s a way of preventing it. For more information on smear tests, read our article here.