[Monitoring the prenatal care process among users of the Unified Health Care System in a city of the Brazilian Southeast].

Purpose: to evaluate the evolution of adequacy of the care process among pregnant users of the Brazilian Single Health System (SUS, acronym in Portuguese) and to consolidate a methodology for monitoring the prenatal care.

Methods: this is a multiple time series study with auditing of prenatal cards of pregnant women who were attended for prenatal care in a city of the Brazilian Southeast (Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais) in the initial semesters of 2002 and 2004 (370 and 1,200 cards, respectively) and gave birth using SUS services in term pregnancies (p < 0.05).