High fertility rates among disadvantaged subgroups are a public health problem because fertility levels significantly affect socioeconomic conditions and a population’s welfare. This paper aims to analyze the sociodemographic, behavioral, and reproductive factors associated with fertility rates among Brazilian women aged between 15–49 years. A Poisson regression was used to analyze data from the 2006 PNDS (Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia e Saúde da Criança e da Mulher), which evaluates socioeconomic, demographic, geographic, reproductive, behavioral, and chronic disease variables. The results show that the following characteristics are positively associated with an increase in the number of children born: being aged 20–24, residing in the North, being nonwhite, not being in paid employment, having lower education levels, having lower socioeconomic status, being in a stable union, having the first sexual intercourse before the age of 16 and having the first child before the age of 20. Thus, it is important to implement efficient family planning policies targeting these subgroups in order to improve life conditions, reduce inequalities and avoid the adverse outcomes of high fertility.

This paper investigates the effect of attending physical education classes on mental health indicators – loneliness and insomnia – of Brazilian schoolchildren. The identification strategy consists of separating the sample into two parts: people who practice physical activity and who attend physical education classes at school and people who, despite not attending physical education classes, practice physical activities. The data are from the 2015 National Adolescent School-based Health Survey (PeNSE), and the sample pairing method is the Propensity Score Matching with robustness analysis using the Bivariate Probit method and the sensitivity is tested using the method developed by Ichino, Mealli, and Nannicini (2008). For both girls and boys the results showed that physical education exerts a negative effect, reducing the probability of reporting problems of insomnia and loneliness among schoolchildren who attend the discipline. Although they show similar magnitudes, the observed effects are greater for boys, in both measures. The study investigates – in a rigorous and unprecedented way in the literature – the effect of physical education classes on the insomnia and loneliness of Brazilian school children. The results are important for the formulation of discipline maintenance policies in the curriculum of schoolchildren in Brazil.

No abstract

No abstract

Resumo O objetivo do estudo foi analisar como as crises econômicas afetam a saúde infantil a nível global e entre subgrupos de países com diferentes níveis de renda. Foram utilizados dados do Banco Mundial e da OMS para 127 países entre os anos de 1995 e 2014. Foi utilizado um modelo de efeitos fixos, avaliando o efeito da mudança em indicadores macroeconômicos (PIB per capita, taxa de desemprego e de inflação, e taxa de desconforto) na taxa de mortalidade neonatal, infantil, e de menores de cinco anos. Adicionalmente, avaliou-se a modificação do efeito da associação de acordo com a renda dos países e também a influência do gasto público em saúde nessa relação. As evidências mostraram que piores indicadores econômicos (menor PIB per capita e maiores inflação, taxa de desemprego e taxa de desconforto) estão associados com maiores taxas de mortalidade infantil. Nas subamostras por estrato de renda, observa-se a mesma relação, porém com efeitos de maior magnitude entre os países de renda baixa e média. Verificou-se ainda que um maior percentual nos gastos públicos em saúde ameniza os efeitos dos indicadores econômicos nas taxas de mortalidade infantil. Desta forma, é necessário aumentar a atenção aos efeitos nocivos das crises macroeconômicas para garantir melhorias na saúde infantil.

The study seeks to analyze the impact of macroeconomic conditions on weight measures, such as BMI, overweight, obesity, and severe obesity in Brazil. We examine this relationship in the specific context of a middle‐income country that differs in many aspects from the high‐income countries usually considered in the literature. The study uses the microdata of VIGITEL in the period from 2006 to 2014 and the state unemployment rate as a proxy for macroeconomic conditions. The results showed that the relationship is robust and presents a procyclical pattern—increases in the unemployment rate reduce BMI, and this reduction is observed throughout the entire distribution, with statistically significant effects for measures of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity. These results agree with the findings for the United States but contradict the results found for Finland and Canada.

No abstract

Objective: Evaluating the influence of five lifestyles on health self-assessment as good in Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study using data from the National Health Survey (PNS 2013) conducted in 2013, with a sample of 46,785 individuals. The main outcome was self-rated health as good and logistic regression was used to analyze healthy lifestyles associated with better self-rated health. Results: We found that smoking, drinking, physical activity and healthy eating are behaviors that are associated with self-rated health. People who have multiple healthy behaviors are more likely to positively evaluate their health. Conclusion: Awareness policies should be carried out to inform the population of the benefits of adopting a healthy lifestyle.