This population-based study was designed to detect the prevalence of anemia in a healthy population of children (18 months to 7 years) and women (14 to 30 years) tested in 2006–2007 in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil as part of an effort to tackle this massive problem that still affects so many people in the XXI century. Anemia was defined according to the WHO. Capillary blood was measured and socioeconomic status was determined according to the Brazilian Association of Market Research Agencies. The median prevalence of anemia in 2198 children was 45.4% and in 1999 women 36.4%. Anemia decreased with age during childhood; although significantly more prevalent in lower classes individuals, it was also high in the upper classes. There are indirect evidences that the lack of iron supplementation and/or iron fortified food may play a role in it. Professionals and society wise measures of education have to be implemented in order to address possible biologic factors involved in childhood psychosocial development in southern Brazil.

This study aims to identify how the principle of equity is employed in health studies in Brazil. It features a review of the scientific production of four databases using the Health Sciences Descriptors "equity" and "health" in all of them. Thirty-four articles addressing the topic of health in Brazil were reviewed. Results show that equity is understood in most articles as an essential factor for social justice, considering the context of social inequalities in which the Brazilian Unified Health System operates. There was a prevalence of the concept of equity proposed by the World Health Organization, which emphasizes the moral and ethical dimension of the term. The restriction of the discussion on equity to the level of access suggests a narrow understanding of the term, which can be explained by the difficulty in applying it, since a social principle is an abstract value. Keywords: Equity; Health Equity; Brazilian Unified Health System; Health Management. CorrespondenceCristina Arthmar Mentz Albrecht Av. Antônio de Carvalho, 2.500, ap. 219, Alto Petrópolis. Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. CEP 91430-000. Cristina Arthmar Mentz Albrecht ResumoEste ensaio tem como objetivo identificar como o princípio da equidade é empregado nos estudos brasileiros que versam sobre saúde. Foi realizada uma revisão da produção científica de quatro bases de dados utilizando os Descritores em Ciências da Saúde "equidade" e "saúde" em todos os índices. Foram revisados 34 artigos que abordavam o tema da saúde no Brasil. Como resultado, percebe-se que a equidade é entendida na maioria dos artigos como um fator essencial para a justiça social, considerando o contexto de desigualdades sociais no qual o Sistema Único de Saúde se encontra inserido. Houve a predominância do conceito de equidade proposto pela Organização Mundial da Saúde que destaca a dimensão moral e ética do termo. A concentração da discussão da equidade apenas no nível do acesso indica uma compreensão restrita do termo, que pode ser explicada pela dificuldade em operacionalizá-lo, uma vez que um princípio social se trata de um valor abstrato. Palavras-chave: Equidade; Equidade em Saúde; Sistema Único de Saúde; Gestão em Saúde.

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This study aimed to investigate the association between mortality of breast cancer women and the social-demographic and clinical characteristics. During the mortality study of 1,086 women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated from 2000 to 2005 at a cancer hospital in the city of Vitória, Espírito Santo, medical records and tumor registration cards were controlled. The Mortality Information System and the Reclink program were used to identify 280 deaths. Patients were classified under death and non-death, and variables percentages were calculated. For variables that showed statistical significance, considering the level of 0.10, the crude and adjusted odds ratio (OR) were calculated by logistic regression model. There was a correlation between mortality and the following variables: women coming from the Unified Health System (p = 0.014; OR = 2.38), negative c-erb B-2 tumor marker (p = 0.027; OR = 2.03), advanced (III and IV) staging (p = 0.001; OR = 6.89 and OR = 17.13, respectively), presence of metastasis (p = 0.001; OR = 18.23) and recurrence (p = 0.010; OR = 3.53). Mortality associated with staging underlines the necessity of warning the population about the benefits of early diagnosis of the disease of cancer. IntroductionCancer has proven to be an increasing occurrence and presents high mortality rates, constituting a public health problem 1 . It has been estimated that, in 2008, 7.6 billion deaths were caused by the disease 2 . In Brazil, approximately 518,510 new cases of cancer have been estimated for 2012 and, in 2008, the disease was the second leading cause of death in the country 3,4 . For 2012, of the 260,640 new female cancer cases, it is expected that 53,000 correspond to breast cancer. This makes breast cancer the second most common body location of the disease (the first one being non-melanoma skin tumors) 4 . In southeastern Brazil, authors highlight trends of increased mortality in metropolitan areas 5,6 . In a study conducted in the state of Espírito Santo, in which data from the Mortality Information System from 1980 to 2007 was analyzed, a trend of increased mortality due to breast cancer was identified in all age groups from 30 years on 7 . Along with the INCA (Brazilian Cancer Institute) estimates for the year 2012 -in which the state capital, Vitória, proved to be the eighth Brazilian capital with the highest gross incidence rate of breast cancer (71.28 per 100 thousand inhabitants) -this information indicates the need for studies that characterize the prevalence of the disease 4 . Data related to mortality are of utmost importance, as they allow the description of the disease's magnitude and impact. In addition, study of this data is important to identify gaps in patient access to health services and to indicate improvements in their treatment. Therefore, this study was aimed at the investigation of the association between mortality among women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2000 and 2005, who received treatment at Santa Rita de Cássia Hospital, and its sociodemographi...

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