Community health agent: a literature review.

Study of the review literature regarding brazilian Community Health Agent. The methodology was descriptive and exploratory study, using the LILACS database (1982 to march/2005) and MEDLINE (1966 to 2005). The analysis resulted 153 publications, from which 97 had been excluded. About type of production, of the 56 references (100%), 53,6% were books, 32,1% periodic articles, 7,1% Master's Theses and remains 7,2%, doctoral dissertations and specialization monographs. It was observed that 59% of the references had been enclosed in the database in 2000. Considering only periodic articles, specialization monographs, Master's Theses and doctoral dissertations, an amount of 26 studies, the experimental design predominated (73%), being the objectives most frequent: characterization of the agents and their functions, process work and results. The data suggest increasing interest on the subject, however, these workers still consist a population little studied.