Objective: Atypical glandular cells: criteria to discriminate benign from neoplastic lesions and squamous from glandular neoplasia Methods: To evaluate the presence of some criteria in cervical smears with atypical glandular cells and their correlation with histological patterns to identify pre-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions. Results: Histological results showed intraepithelial or invasive neoplasia in 35 (48%) cases and benign lesions in 38 (52%) cases. After logistic regression and decision tree analysis an increased nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio and the presence of dyskeratotic cells were strongly associated with intraepithelial or invasive neoplasia and the differential cyto-morphological criteria for glandular lesions were decreased cytoplasm, irregular nuclear membranes and the presence of nucleoli. Conclusion: The analysis of individual cyto-morphological criteria can better predict intraepithelial or invasive neoplasia and differentiate glandular from squamous lesions.166295302