Nascer no Brasil: continuity of care during pregnancy and postpartum period for women and newborns.

Objective: To estimate the adequacy of health care during pregnancy and the postpartum period in puerperal women and newborn users of the Unified Health System and verify the factors associated with greater adequacy.

Methods: We used data obtained in the hospital interview, the prenatal card and the first telephone interview of 12,646 women participating in the study Nascer no Brasil (Birth in Brazil), conducted in 2011 and 2012. In the first stage of the analysis, the sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of women and the estimation of adequacy of prenatal and postpartum care indicators are described.

[Longitudinality/continuity of care: identifying dimensions and variables to the evaluation of Primary Health Care in the context of the Brazilian public health system].

Longitudinality, which is concerned with Primary Health Care (APS) professionals accompanying patients over time, is considered a central feature of this level of health care. The fulfilment of this attribute is related to positive health results, which justify its use for assessing Primary Health Care. On the other hand, the term is not commonly used by Brazilian authors, and in international literature the term "continuity of care" is used with a similar meaning.