Distribution of indicators for chronic non-communicable diseases in adult women beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família Program — Vigitel 2016–2019

Abstract

Objective: To compare the prevalence of and trend in risk and protective factors for chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among women beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of Bolsa Família from 2016 to 2019. Methods: This is a cross-sectional time-series study. We estimated the prevalence and prevalence ratios, both crude and adjusted for age and schooling, of NCD indicators with their respective confidence intervals, using the Poisson regression model. A time-trend analysis was also performed employing a simple linear regression model, regarding the indicators as the outcome variable and the year of the survey as the explanatory variable. Results: Women beneficiaries were more exposed to risk factors for NCDs compared to non-beneficiaries. Prevalence ratios adjusted for smokers were 1.15 (1.07 – 1.24), for overweight were 1.08 (1.03 – 1.14), and for obesity were 1.09 (1.04 – 1.14), while the recommended fruit and vegetable consumption was 0.93 (0.87 – 0.99); they also showed lower practice of leisure-time physical activities (0.88; 0.82 – 0.93), spent more time watching TV (1.08; 1.02 – 1.13), had worse self-rated health status (1.12; 1.04 – 1.21), and lower rates of mammography (0.80; 0.71 – 0.90) and pap smear (0.93; 0.88 – 0.98). Among the beneficiaries, the trend analysis showed an increased prevalence of overweight, from 55.9 to 62.6%, and screen time except for TV, from 13.5 to 27.8%. Conclusion: NCD risk factors were higher among women beneficiaries of Bolsa Família, indicating the importance of maintaining affirmative policies for this vulnerable population.

Inclusive Cities: Healthy Cities for All

“…One of these aspects, beyond the urban planning and housing interventions we mentioned before, where research has been abundant in Latin America is on the effect of conditional cash transfers on social and health inequities. For example, the Bolsa Familia program of Brazil (Neves et al, 2020;Soares et al, 2010), a conditional cash transfer program, has the potential to reduce health inequities (Bernal et al, 2019;Neves et al, 2020), including in outcomes that affect youth (Guanais, 2015;Machado et al, 2019), and has been shown to reduce poverty levels (Alves and Escorel, 2013) but not intergenerational poverty (Neves et al, 2020). Other challenges remain (Soares et al, 2010), including oral health (Calvasina et al, 2018) and nutrition inequities (Neves et al, 2020), along with the potential discretionality in its eligibility (Eiró, 2019).…”

Changes in Screen Time in Brazil: A Time-Series Analysis 2016-2021

“…6 In Brazil, the prevalence prolonged TV watching (≥3 h/ day) was also stable between 2008 and 2017 (25%). 7 However, the time spent on other screens, like cell phone, computer, or tablet (CCT), remains poorly described, 8 preventing an accurate time trend analysis of screen time. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the temporal trend of leisure screen time among adults in Brazil between 2016 and 2021.…”