This descriptive and exploratory research aims to draw the profile of women between 40 and 49 years at a Family Health Center in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, in view of the following variables: registration at the service, health insurance and smear realization date, among others. Data were collected in the patient records of 213 women. Epi Info 6.0 was used for data input and analysis and database creation. Results display that 49% of the women realized the pap smear at least once in the period from 2000 to 2003. 54.5% of them did not have a health insurance plan and smear realization rates are higher in this group. It was concluded that the organization of health care in accordance with the Family Health model favors adhesion to this preventive test. We recommend that new studies be carried out to obtain a more representative profile of the population that is registered at the service.
cervix neoplasms; vaginal smears; family health
