Dinâmica de oferecimento e realização da citologia em gestante de Fortaleza

Abstract

Cervical cancer was responsible for the death of 265,000 women in the world in 2012. With the exception of skin cancer, this tumor is the one with the greatest potential for prevention and cure when diagnosed early. The conventional Pap test (Papanicolaou) is the main strategy of screening programs for cervical cancer in Brazil and worldwide. It is known that, in developing countries, many women only seek health services when they show symptoms of disease or during pregnancy. Therefore, pregnancy can be a good opportunity to conduct a Pap smear with the aim of preventing cervical cancer. This study had the objective of assess the dynamics of offering and performing cytology collection for screening cervical cancer in pregnant women in Fortaleza-CE. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. The research was conducted at the Maternity School Assis Chateaubriand (MEAC), with a sample of 318 patients. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software. Only 11% of all patients and 10.8% of patients over 25 years took advantage of the prenatal consultations to make the Pap smear. Among the 283 (89%) patients who did not realize cervical cancer prevention in pregnancy, the majority, 80.9%, did not do it because the health professional had not offered. In the analysis of demographic and socioeconomic variables, the group of patients who were employed at the time showed the highest prevalence of taking the exam during pregnancy compared to women who did not work (PR: 2.19; 95% CI 1.00 to 4.87; p: 0.043). Patients that had the pregnancy considered high risk pregnancy (PR: 3.15; 95% CI 1.52 to 6.54; p <0.001), that had prenatal care at MEAC (PR: 2.77; 95% CI 1.48 -5.19; p 0.001), that made all consultations with a physician (PR: 2.95; 95% CI 1.53 to 5.69; p: 0.003), that did not have a health center close to home (PR: 3.22; 95% CI 1.44 to 7.21; p: 0.026) and that knew that the exam could be done during pregnancy (PR: 5.05; 95% CI 2.16 to 11.83; p <0.001) had significantly higher prevalence of having their Pap smear performed during prenatal care. It can be concluded that the frequency of offering and the realization of cervical cytological collection was very low and that it is necessary to conduct awareness programs for health professionals on the importance and safety of performing the prevention of cervical cancer during prenatal visits.