Secondary cervical cancer prevention in routine prenatal care - coverage, results and lessons for the future.

96.9% of respondents had undergone Pap smear and 80.6% had it performed during pregnancy. For 11.5% women Pap smear in pregnancy was the first one in their life. The most common reasons for lack of Pap smear performance were: no subjective need to perform it (40.9%), no doctor's recommendation (28.6%) and lack of gynecological care (16.3%). Among professionally active women the percentage of those who had not undergone Pap smear during pregnancy was statistically higher (28.5%) than among those who were on sick leave (13.5%) (p = 0.0003). Also, younger women were at risk of less frequent participation in cervical cancer screening CONCLUSIONS: Although performance of Pap smear among surveyed patients was relatively high, there was a significant group of women who had undergone their first test during pregnancy, which makes secondary cervical cancer prevention in prenatal care a useful prophylactic strategy. Special attention should be given to younger and professionally active women.