Abstract
The scope of this study was to assess the way Child Health Records (CHRs) are filled out and the association between the quality of entries and type of service used to monitor the health of children. It involved a cross-sectional study with a stratified sample – proportional for the nine Health Districts of Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais – of 3- to 5-year-old children selected on Child Vaccination Campaign Day in 2014. Interviews with parents including observation of the 21 CHR items were conducted. The dependent variable was defined by the quality of the CHR entry (satisfactory/unsatisfactory), where satisfactory entries were > 60%. The independent variables were the type of service for monitoring child health, demographic and health conditions of the mother and child and healthcare treatment received by the child, with the participation of 367 (96.10%) parents. The prevalence of unsatisfactory entries was 55.5%. No significant association was found between quality of entry and type of healthcare. Unsatisfactory entries were associated with gestational age < 37 weeks, lack of access to information about the CHR and the absence of parental entries on the CHR. The CHR has been unsatisfactorily employed as a tool for monitoring health, irrespective of the type of service used by the child.
Key words
Public health surveillance; Child health; Primary healthcare