OBJECTIVE: To perform a review of studies of food consumption and nutritional adaptation in Brazilian infants pointing the main findings and limitations of these studies. DATA SOURCE: The articles were selected from Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (Lilacs) (Latin-American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Science Direct in Portuguese and in English. The descriptors were: ''food consumption'', ''nutritional requirements'', ''infant nutrition'' and ''child''. The articles selected were read by two evaluators that decided upon their inclusion. The following were excluded: studies about children with pathologies; studies that approached only food practices or those adaptation of the food groups or the food offert; and studies that did not utilize the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). DATA SYNTHESIS: Were selected 16 studies published between 2003 and 2013. In the evaluation of the energy consumption, four studies presented energetic consumption above the individual necessities. The prevalence of micronutrients inadequacy ranged from 0.4% to 65% for iron, from 20% to 59.5% for vitamin A, from 20% to 99.4% for zinc, from 12.6% to 48.9% for calcium and from 9.6% 96.6% for vitamin C. CONCLUSIONS: The food consumption of Brazilian infants is characterized by high frequencies of inadequacy of micronutrients consumption, mainly iron, vitamin A and zinc. These inadequacies do not exist only as deficiencies, but also as excesses, as noted for energetic consumption.

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The prevalence of severe microcephaly was much higher than expected in both cities. Our findings suggest that microcephaly was endemic in both municipalities before the circulation of the Zika virus.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the 2020 all-cause and COVID-19 excess mortality according to sex, age, race/color, and state, and to compare mortality rates by selected causes with that of the five previous years in Brazil. METHODS Data from the Mortality Information System were used. Expected deaths for 2020 were estimated from 2015 to 2019 data using a negative binomial log-linear model. RESULTS Excess deaths in Brazil in 2020 amounted to 13.7%, and the ratio of excess deaths to COVID-19 deaths was 0.90. Reductions in deaths from cardiovascular diseases (CVD), respiratory diseases, and external causes, and an increase in ill-defined causes were all noted. Excess deaths were also found to be heterogeneous, being higher in the Northern, Center-Western, and Northeastern states. In some states, the number of COVID-19 deaths was lower than that of excess deaths, whereas the opposite occurred in others. Moreover, excess deaths were higher in men aged 20 to 59, and in black, yellow, or indigenous individuals. Meanwhile, excess mortality was lower in women, in individuals aged 80 years or older, and in whites. Additionally, deaths among those aged 0 to 19 were 7.2% lower than expected, with reduction in mortality from respiratory diseases and external causes. There was also a drop in mortality due to external causes in men and in those aged 20 to 39 years. Moreover, reductions in deaths from CVD and neoplasms were noted in some states and groups. CONCLUSION There is evidence of underreporting of COVID-19 deaths and of the possible impact of restrictive measures in the reduction of deaths from external causes and respiratory diseases. The impacts of COVID-19 on mortality were heterogeneous among the states and groups, revealing that regional, demographic, socioeconomic, and racial differences expose individuals in distinct ways to the risk of death from both COVID-19 and other causes.

This study aimed to investigate the association between maternal depressive symptoms and anxiety and interference in the mother/child relationship, using structural equations modeling. Data were used from a prospective cohort study initiated during the prenatal period with 1,140 mothers in São Luís, Maranhão State, Brazil. Data were collected during prenatal care and when the children reached two years of age. Interference in the mother/child relationship was measured with the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire - PBQ (N = 1,140). In the initial theoretical model, socioeconomic status determined the maternal demographic, psychosocial, and social support factors, which determined the outcome, i.e., the mother/child relationship. Adjustments were performed by structural equations modeling, using Mplus 7.0. The final model showed good fit (RMSEA = 0.047; CFI = 0.984; TLI = 0.981). Depressive symptoms in pregnancy and the postpartum were associated with higher PBQ scores, indicating interference in the mother/child relationship. The greatest effect was from depressive symptoms in pregnancy. Other factors associated with higher PBQ scores were lower social support, unfavorable socioeconomic status, and living without a partner, by indirect association. Anxiety symptoms and maternal age were not associated with the mother/child relationship. The results suggest that identifying and treating depression in pregnancy and postpartum can improve mother/child bonding in childhood.

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