OBJECTIVES: To identify the factors associated to the quality of care and possible predisposition to inequities in labor care, as of social-demographic and obstetrical characteristics of women cared for in two hospitals associated to the Single Health System in the city of Maringá-Paraná. METHODS: Cross-sectional study, performed by researching hospital handbooks and by interviewing 569 women in labor. Seven quality indicators classified the assistance into excellent, good, fair and insufficient. The Chi-square test was used to establish the association among variables. RESULTS: The women were young, had fixed partners, full high school education, no paying jobs and a low socioeconomic level. Inequality in care was stressed by the differentiated offer in procedures that qualify care, determined by individual, contextual factors and, in particular, related to assistance practices. COLNCLUSION: Three characteristics made up the profile of the parturients who benefitted from the most qualified healthcare: being under 19 years of age, having full high school education and having had no previous caesarian section.
Health services evaluation; Equity in health; Humanizing delivery; Health care (Public Health)
