[Cytopathological coverage of the cervix in Basic Health Units of the Family]

To evaluate the coverage of Pap smear cytology at Basic Family Health Units (BFHU) and to describe the characteristics of non-performance of this test in the last three years.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Rio Grande (RS), Brazil, in areas covered by the Family Health Teams Family (FHT). The interviews were conducted by students participating in the Health-PET, at women's home. Crude analysis was performed using SPSS software to calculate prevalence ratio, 95% confidence intervals and p value. Multivariate analysis was performed by Poisson regression using Stata 9.0 software, which were included the variables with p value of up to 0.20 in the crude analysis. At the first level, the variables were age, having a partner, and literacy. At the second level, the variables were number of visits and offer of a Pap smear.

The prevalence of Pap cytology performed 36 months ago or less was 66.3%. In adjusted analysis, women aged 19 years or less (p<0.001), without a partner (p<0.001), illiterate (p= 0.01), who had never consulted at the basic unit (p=0.02) and who had not been offered the examination during the visit (p=0.006), were more likely not to have had a cytopathology exam in the last 36 months.

The local health proved to be ineffective and inequitable. Ineffective because it covers fewer women than indicated by the World Health Organization and uneven because access to this test varied according to some characteristics of the users.