Postpartum depression symptoms among Amazonian and Northeast Brazilian women.

BACKGROUND: Studies analyzing the prevalence of postpartum depression in Brazil have recently increased. However, few studies have examined the Northeast region of Brazil, and no studies have investigated the Amazon region. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate postpartum depression in these two regions. METHODS: We administered the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale to a total of 3060 women who used the Brazilian public health system and had given birth between one and three months prior to the interview. A cut-off score ≥11 was used to indicate symptoms of postpartum depression. After calculating the prevalence, univariate logistic regressions were performed separately for several possible risk factors (p<0.05). RESULTS: The overall rate of reported symptoms of postpartum depression was 19.5%. The prevalence in the northeast region and Amazon region were 19.0% and 20.3%, respectively (p=0.36). In the univariate logistic regression, low education level (<7 years: p<0.001; 8-10 years: p=0.003), ethnicity (Black: p=0.02; Pardo: p=0.02), few prenatal visits (1 or 2 visits: p=0.04), prenatal care self-assessed as "not very good" (p<0.001) and the prenatal care adequacy index of partially suitable (p=0.01) or not suitable (p<0.001) were identified as significant risk factors for postpartum depression symptoms. LIMITATIONS: Mothers who did not bring their children for immunization. The cross-sectional study does not allow for causality to be established. CONCLUSION: the prevalence rates of postpartum depression were similar to the rates observed for developing countries and higher than the rates observed in developed countries. Based on these findings, we recommend that screening and treatment of pregnant women should be considered a public health priority.

Growth faltering in childhood related to diarrhea: a longitudinal community based study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the association of diarrhea and acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRI) with growth of preschool children. DESIGN: A longitudinal community-based study over a 12-month period. Children were followed up with thrice-weekly household visits for collection of morbidity data. Every 4 months (round) clinical and anthropometric examinations were performed. At baseline a questionnaire was used to collect socioeconomic family data and environmental household variables. Generalized estimating equation was used in the statistical analysis. The variations in weight-for-age or height-for-age Z-scores in each round were the dependent variables, while the main independent variables were the number of days with diarrhea and ALRI. SETTING: Serrinha, located in Northeast Brazil. SUBJECTS: In total, 487 children, aged 6-48 months at baseline, with 1-y complete follow-up. RESULTS: The number of sick days with diarrhea or ALRI was not associated with mean changes in weight-for-age Z-scores. However, the mean of height-for-age Z-scores was found to decrease in those children with 7 or more days of diarrhea (beta=-0.0472; P=0.016) but not with 1 or more days of ALRI (beta=0.0022; P=0.406) in all rounds of the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Results of the study reinforce the concept of diarrhea burden as a major determinant of poor growth in children under 5 y of age. Actions targeted to decrease the risk factors for the occurrence of diarrhea may represent an important component of interventions aimed to ensure satisfactory child growth.