Publications by authors named "Bernardo Horta"

Estimating average blood pressure levels and prevalence of arterial hypertension (AH) and associated factors is essential to monitoring health and planning actions to combat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Indigenous peoples in Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study that investigated average blood pressure levels and prevalence of arterial hypertension in 4,680 Indigenous women (aged 18-49 years), using data from the 1st National Survey of Health and Nutrition of Indigenous Peoples (2008-2009) and associated factors, such as through gamma regression and multilevel logistics. The prevalence of hypertension was 10.

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Among US breastfeeding women, those with obesity have significantly increased breast milk fat and caloric content from foremilk to hindmilk, with a 4-fold increase in fat content from the first to last milk sample. In view of different dietary norms and nutritional standards, we sought to evaluate the relationship between maternal BMI with breast milk fat and calorie content in women from Brazil, a low-middle-income country. Women who delivered singleton-term neonates were recruited from the Ana Abrao Breastfeeding Center (AABC) and Human Milk Bank at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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Donor human milk is increasingly being utilized for both preterm and term infants when mother's milk is unavailable. With the rising prevalence of maternal overweight and obesity, it is crucial to evaluate the relationship between maternal body mass index and the fat and energy content of donor human milk. To assess the impact of maternal body mass index on human milk fat content.

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Despite the identification of numerous genetic variants affecting SBP in European populations, their applicability in admixed populations remains unclear. This study evaluates the predictive efficacy of a systolic blood pressure (SBP) polygenic risk score (PRS), derived from the UK Biobank data, in two Brazilian cohorts. We analyzed 944 K genetic variants consistent across an independent UK Biobank dataset, Brazilian cohorts, and HapMap database.

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Article Synopsis
  • Latin Americans are often overlooked in genetic studies, which can widen gaps in personalized medicine due to the challenges of accessing genetic data and consent processes.
  • The Genetics of Latin American Diversity (GLAD) Project compiles genetic information from over 53,000 individuals across various regions to explore diverse ancestry and gene flow in the Americas.
  • GLAD includes a tool called GLAD-match to align external genetic samples with its database while protecting individual privacy, thus supporting more inclusive genomic research and enhancing personalized medicine for Latin Americans.
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This study systematically reviews the evidence on the association between sense of coherence (SOC) and substance use during adulthood. Two researchers conducted independent literature searches on the PubMed, LILACS, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases. Original articles assessing SOC and substance use in adults (age > 19 years) were included.

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Background: Women's health and well-being (WHW) have been receiving growing attention, but limited progress has been made on how to measure its different domains in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We used data from five long-term birth cohorts in Brazil, Guatemala, the Philippines and South Africa to explore different domains of adult WHW, and how these domains relate to early life exposures.

Methods: Based upon an a priori conceptualisation of eight postulated WHW outcomes available in the data, we grouped them as follows: human capital (intelligence quotient, schooling, height, and teenage childbearing), metabolic health (body mass index and metabolic syndrome score), and psychological (happiness and Self-Reported Questionnaire (SRQ) scores).

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Background: Homicide is the leading cause of death among young people in Latin America, one of the world's most violent regions. Poverty is widely considered a key cause of violence, but theories suggest different effects of poverty, depending on when it is experienced in the life-course. Longitudinal studies of violence are scarce in Latin America, and very few prospective data are available worldwide to test different life-course influences on homicide.

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The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of dissatisfaction with dental appearance among 24-year-old Brazilian adults and the associated factors in life course. A subsample (n = 720) of the 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort in southern Brazil was investigated at the ages of 15 and 24 years using clinical (caries and periodontal) examinations and interviews. The outcome was dissatisfaction with dental appearance at the age of 24 years.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how social mobility affects tooth loss in adults from a specific birth cohort, focusing on race as a potential modifying factor.
  • Data from 541 participants revealed that 50.8% experienced tooth loss, and within the "never poor" social mobility group, Black/Brown individuals had significantly higher rates of tooth loss compared to whites.
  • Results indicate that social mobility and race interact in complex ways, showing greater tooth loss prevalence in downwardly mobile groups and highlighting racial inequities especially among those who were never poor.
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  • Genome-wide association studies have identified genetic risk factors but often rely on imputation panels that mainly represent European ancestry, affecting quality in underrepresented groups like Latin Americans.
  • This study examines how altering the composition of imputation reference panels impacts imputation quality in four different Latin American cohorts, specifically analyzing chromosomes 7 and X.
  • Results show that increasing the number of Latin Americans in the reference leads to better imputation quality, while excluding them, as well as adjustments in European and African representation, affects quality differently across populations and chromosomes.
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Background: The benefits of breast feeding may be associated with better formation of eating habits beyond childhood. This study was designed to verify the association between breast feeding and food consumption according to the degree of processing in four Brazilian birth cohorts.

Methods: The duration of exclusive, predominant and total breast feeding was evaluated.

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Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index is positively associated with offspring obesity, even at adulthood, whereas breastfeeding decreases the risk of obesity. The present study was aimed at assessing whether breastfeeding moderates the association of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index with offspring body composition at adulthood, using data from 3439 subjects enrolled in a southern Brazilian birth cohort. At 30 years of age, maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index was positively associated with offspring prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity, as well as body mass index and fat and lean mass index.

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This study assessed the association of birth weight, gestational age, and intrauterine growth with bone mineral density (BMD) at 22 and 30 years of age in the 1982 and 1993 birth cohorts in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and the association was assessed using analysis of variance. Multiple linear regression was used to control for confounding factors: sex; household income at birth; maternal smoking during pregnancy; maternal schooling; maternal ethnicity/skin color; and pre-pregnancy body mass index.

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The childhood obesity epidemic continues to be a challenge. Maternal obesity and excessive infant weight gain are strong predictors of childhood obesity, which itself is a major risk factor for adult obesity. The primary source of nutrition during early life is breast milk, and its composition is impacted by maternal habitus and diet.

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Purpose: This study aimed to determine whether the factors underlying potential differences between two birth cohorts, born in 1982 and 1993, influence the changes in IQ over time.

Methods: Data from two Brazilian birth cohorts were used (1993 and 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohorts). The IQ scores were assessed using the WAIS-III test.

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Purpose: In this paper, we explore how Brazilian socially sensitive therapy can respond to care-users' desire to change the social and political forces shaping their lives. We use this case to demonstrate the limits of the "social determinants of health" agenda which, when operationalized, tends to leave questions of lasting structural change aside.

Methods: We report on mixed methods ethnographic and epidemiological results from the 1982 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort study, a prospective study of 5914 children.

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Article Synopsis
  • Educational attainment is linked to cardiovascular health, and a large genomic study examined how it interacts with cholesterol and triglyceride levels in nearly 226,315 individuals across five population groups.
  • The study identified 18 new genetic variations related to lipid levels—nine for low-density lipoprotein (LDL), seven for high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and two for triglycerides (TG)—some of which interact with educational attainment.
  • Researchers also found five gene targets that potentially interact with FDA-approved drugs, suggesting a connection between genetics and drug responses related to lipid metabolism and overall health.
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This study evaluates the association of birth conditions with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) in adults using data from two birth cohorts in the city of Pelotas Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. In 1982 and 1993 all births in the city were identified and have been prospectively monitored. In the follow-ups at 30 and 22 years of the 1982 (n = 3,574) and 1993 (n = 3,780) cohorts, respectively, participants were examined, and trained psychologists applied the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.

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Objective: Measure the prevalence of use of dental services in the previous year and associated factors among 31-year-old adults from a birth cohort of 1982.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that analyzed a birth cohort of 1982 from the city of Pelotas. In 1997, a systematic sample of 27% of the city's census sectors was defined and all households in these sectors were visited, where 1,076 15-year-old adolescents were interviewed.

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Background: The benefits of physical activity in health outcomes are well established. However, recent evidence suggests that benefits may differ by domain and population. Thus, we aimed to investigate the prospective association of occupational (OPA) and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) with cardiovascular risk factors.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated the relationships between birth weight, postnatal growth, and the age of menarche in girls from five low- and middle-income countries (Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, and South Africa).
  • Results showed that while birth weight did not influence age at menarche, greater height and weight during early childhood correlated with earlier onset of menarche; stunted girls experienced a significantly later age at menarche.
  • The findings suggest that while promoting healthy growth is essential, the interactions between growth patterns and menarche timing are complex and warrant further investigation for global health strategies.
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