Estimated timing of the first menstrual period and dietary and nutritional correlates of menarche among urban school-going adolescents in four sub-Saharan African sites.

Characterizing the timing of menarche and the factors that are associated with it is important for understanding a population's reproductive health needs and long-term health trajectories. We estimated the age at the menstrual onset among adolescent girls and the association between dietary and nutritional factors and menarche in four sub-Saharan African urban sites. We used cross-sectional school-based data from 2307 female adolescents aged 10-14 years collected by the Africa Research, Implementation Science, and Education (ARISE) Network in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Khartoum, Sudan; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Identifying and Characterizing the Poorest Urban Population Using National Household Surveys in 38 Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Identifying and classifying poor and rich groups in cities depends on several factors. Using data from available nationally representative surveys from 38 sub-Saharan African countries, we aimed to identify, through different poverty classifications, the best classification in urban and large city contexts. Additionally, we characterized the poor and rich groups in terms of living standards and schooling.

Coverage, Trends, and Inequalities of Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Indicators among the Poor and Non-Poor in the Most Populous Cities from 38 Sub-Saharan African Countries.

Rapid urbanization is likely to be associated with suboptimal access to essential health services. This is especially true in cities from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where urbanization is outpacing improvements in infrastructure. We assessed the current situation in regard to several markers of maternal, newborn, and child health, including indicators of coverage of health interventions (demand for family planning satisfied with modern methods, at least four antenatal care visits (ANC4+), institutional birth, and three doses of DPT vaccine[diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus]) and health status (stunting in children under 5 years, neonatal and under-5 mortality rates) among the poor and non-poor in the most populous cities from 38 SSA countries.

Measures of women's empowerment based on individual-level data: a literature review with a focus on the methodological approaches.

Background: Quantifying women's empowerment has become the focus of attention of many international organizations and scholars. We aimed to describe quantitative indicators of women's empowerment that are based on individual-level data.

Methods: In this scoping review, we searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google, and Google Scholar for publications describing the operationalization of measures of women's empowerment.

Differences in food consumption of the Brazilian population by race/skin color in 2017-2018.

Objective: To evaluate food consumption in Brazil by race/skin color of the population.

Methods: Food consumption data from the Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF - Household Budget Survey) 2017-2018 were analyzed. Food and culinary preparations were grouped into 31 items, composing three main groups, defined by industrial processing characteristics: 1 - in natura/minimally processed, 2 - processed, and 3 - ultra-processed.

Changes in socioeconomic inequalities in food consumption among Brazilian adults in a 10-years period.

Objective: To evaluate changes in socioeconomic inequalities in food consumption in Brazil over a 10-year period.

Methods: Data on 24-h recalls of adults (aged 20 years or more) from the 2008/9 ( = 26,327) and 2017/8 ( = 37,689). Brazilian Dietary Survey were analyzed.

Inequalities in the health, nutrition, and wellbeing of Afrodescendant women and children: A cross-sectional analysis of ten Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Background: Afrodescendants are systematically affected by discrimination in the Americas and few multi-country studies addressed ethnic inequalities in health and wellbeing in the region. We aimed to investigate gaps in coverage of key health outcomes and socioeconomic inequalities between Afrodescendants and non-Afrodescendants populations in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Methods: Using national household surveys (2011-2019) from ten countries, we analyzed absolute inequalities between Afrodescendants and a comparison group that includes non-Afrodescendants and non-Indigenous individuals (henceforth non-Afrodescendants) across 17 indicators in the continuum of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health.

Obesity and health service utilization in Brazil: data from the National Health Survey.

Background: Obesity, a complex public health problem, is generally associated with other chronic diseases. The association of obesity with health service utilization has been little investigated in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to analyze the association between obesity and health service utilization (considering those services related to hypertension and/or diabetes).

Growth patterns by sex and age among under-5 children from 87 low-income and middle-income countries.

Introduction: Although boys tend to be more affected by linear growth faltering than girls, little is known about sex differences across distinct age groups. We aimed to compare sex differences in linear growth throughout the first 5 years of life among children from low-income and middle-income countries.

Methods: We analysed 87 cross-sectional Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Cluster Indicator Surveys (2010-2019).

[Consumption of fruits and the association with ultra-processed food intake in Brazil in 2008-2009].

The scope of this study was to describe the consumption of fruit in Brazil and its association with the intake of ultra-processed (UP) foods in a representative sample of 32,900 individuals from the 2008-2009 Household Budget Survey. The association between calory contribution of fruit to the diet and quintiles of UP food intake was analyzed using linear regression. Fruit accounted for just over 5% of the calories, about half of which (2.

A scoping review of methods for assessment of sex differentials in early childhood mortality.

Background: While assessment of sex differentials in child mortality is straightforward, their interpretation must consider that, in the absence of gender bias, boys are more likely to die than girls. The expected differences are also influenced by levels and causes of death. However, there is no standard approach for determining expected sex differences.

Ciência & Saúde Coletiva - 25 years: contributions to pregnancy, delivery, and childhood studies.

We reviewed the scientific production on maternal health and the health of children under ten years of age, published in Journal Ciência & Saúde Coletiva during the last 25 years, focusing on quantitative studies. The authors' characteristics, populations under study, thematic areas, and methodology are described. A total of 170 publications were identified and grouped into 12 major themes.

The double burden of malnutrition in under-five children at national and individual levels: observed and expected prevalence in ninety-three low- and middle-income countries.

Objective: To assess whether the observed prevalence of the double burden of malnutrition (DBM) would be higher than expected on the basis of chance, through analyses at national, wealth quintile and individual child levels.

Design: We selected nationally representative surveys from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) carried out since 2005 with anthropometric measures on children under 5 years of age. Household wealth was assessed through asset indices.

Association between ethnicity and under-5 mortality: analysis of data from demographic surveys from 36 low-income and middle-income countries.

Background: The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for stratification of social indicators by ethnic groups; however, no recent multicountry analyses on ethnicity and child survival have been done in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Methods: We used data from Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys collected between 2010 and 2016, from LMICs that provided birth histories and information on ethnicity or a proxy variable. We calculated neonatal (age 0-27 days), post-neonatal (age 28-364 days), child (age 1-4 years), and under-5 mortality rates (U5MRs) for each ethnic group within each country.

Parent-Related Normative Perceptions of Adolescents and Later Weight Control Behavior: Longitudinal Analysis of Cohort Data From Brazil.

Purpose: Body image-related norms can be imposed by parents and can shape adolescents' body satisfaction in consequential ways, yet evidence on long-term effects is scarce. Longitudinal data from a country with strong body image focus provided a unique opportunity to investigate long-term influences of normative parent-related perceptions.

Methods: Multinomial logistic regression was used on data from a 1993 birth cohort in Brazil to investigate the association of normal-body mass index (BMI) adolescents' perception of their parent's opinion of their weight at age 11 years with their weight control attempts at 18 years, testing a mediating role for body dissatisfaction at age 15 years.

The Intersectionality of Gender and Wealth in Adolescent Health and Behavioral Outcomes in Brazil: The 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort.

Purpose: Brazilian society is characterized by deep socioeconomic inequalities. Using data from a population-based birth cohort, we explored how the intersectionality of family income and gender may affect adolescent health and behavioral outcomes.

Methods: Children born in 1993 in the Brazilian city of Pelotas have been followed up prospectively at the age of 15 years when the follow-up rate was 85.

Religious affiliation and immunization coverage in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Although religious affiliation has been identified as a potential barrier to immunization in some African countries, there are no systematic multi-country analyses, including within-country variability, on this issue. We investigated whether immunization varied according to religious affiliation and sex of the child in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

Methods: We used data from 15 nationally representative surveys from 2010 to 2016.

Economic crises, child mortality and the protective role of public health expenditure.

The aim of the study was to analyze how economic crises affect child health globally and between subgroups of countries with different levels of income. Data from the World Bank and the World Health Organization were used for 127 countries between 1995 and 2014. A fixed effects model was used, evaluating the effect of the change on macroeconomic indicators (GDP per capita, unemployment and inflation rates and misery index) in neonatal, infant and under-five mortality rates.

Analyses of inequalities in RMNCH: rising to the challenge of the SDGs.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17.18 recommends efforts to increase the availability of data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location in developing countries. Surveys will continue to be the leading data source for disaggregated data for most dimensions of inequality.

Longitudinal association of adiposity with wheezing and atopy at 22 years: the 1993 Birth Cohort, Pelotas, Brazil.

Purpose: Asthma is a highly prevalent noncommunicable lung disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the longitudinal association of obesity/adiposity with wheezing and atopy.

Methods: The population of the study was composed of participants from the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort.