Profile of Cervical Cancer Screening in a Family Health Unit in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil: an Evaluative Study of the 2020-2023 Period

Objective: The objective of this study is to outline the profile of cervical cancer screening at the Family Health Unit (FHU) San Martin 3, in the municipality of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from 2020 to 2023, in order to analyze the coverage of the preventive exam or Pap smear. Theoretical Framework: Brazil performs opportunistic screening of women with pre-neoplastic lesions or precursor lesions of Cervical Cancer (CC), through the performance of the Preventive Exam (PE) or Pap smear. Where the woman occasionally seeks the health service. The recommendation of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (BMH) is to screen primarily women in the age group at risk, from 25 to 64 years, delimited by the highest incidence and mortality rate of CC. Method: This is a descriptive ecological study, where the trend of the historical series of cytopathological tests performed for cervical cervical cancer screening in women at FHU San Martin 3, in the municipality of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, between 2020 and 2023, from the date of inauguration of the unit until December 2023, was analyzed. The data were taken from the electronic medical record, Sistema Vida, and from the unit's PE record book, in February 2024. Results and Discussion: The results obtained revealed [synthesize the main results of the research]. In the discussion section, these results are contextualized in light of the theoretical framework, highlighting the implications and relationships identified. Possible discrepancies and limitations of the study are also considered in this section. Research Implications: The cytopathological examination of the cervix performed by the unit is the procedure chosen by the World Health Organization (WHO) and adopted by the BMH for cervical cancer screening, in the study in question most of the reports with precursor alterations for this type of cancer are in the standardized age range for PE, from 25 to 64 years old. The altered results in women under 25 years of age were low-grade intraepithelial lesions, a common alteration in women under 25 years of age, usually associated with the HPV virus, which in most cases regress without treatment. Originality/Value: The research on the profile of cervical cancer screening in a family health unit in Salvador presents significant originality and value for public health.