AbstractThe impact of specimen adequacy on the diagnosis of cervical cytology is not fully understood. Virtually, the greatest impact of smear quality limitation factors is on the diagnosis of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) because this category is more susceptible to interpretation mistake due to its criteria subjectivity. This study aims to evaluate the impact of smear quality impairing factors on the diagnosis of ASCUS. The 1,507 cases of ASCUS studied were obtained from the Cervical Cancer Screening Program of Paraná (CCSPP). The cases were reviewed by expert cytopathologists and the results were correlated to the specimen adequacy. The results showed that the presence of obscuring blood impairs the correct diagnosis and leads the pathologist to overdiagnose negative smears as ASCUS. The presence of adequate endocervical sampling contributes to a higher rate of correct ASCUS diagnoses but did not influence the pathologist to over‐ or underestimate the cytological findings. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2004;31:155–158. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.