Since the introduction of the Pap smear screening, the incidence of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has decreased significantly, but the incidence of adenocarcinoma (AC) relative to SCC has increased. To compare the Pap smear history of patients with AC and SCC of the cervix. Patients for the study were identified from the database of Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer. Patients with AC and SCC were matched for age at diagnosis and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage. The final population included 188 matched pairs, being 376 patients in total. Data were collected upon the histological type of cancer, result of the most recent Pap smear, date and result of the Pap smear prior to the most recent Pap smear and symptoms. Chi-squared tests and Fisher's exact test were used to compare the two patient groups for several variables. Patients with AC had significantly more false-negative results on their most recent Pap smear (P