Objective: To evaluate the magnitude of under‐reporting the number of deaths due to COVID‐19 in Brazil in 2020, previously shown to occur due to low rate of laboratory testing for SARS‐CoV‐2, reporting delay, inadequate access to medical care, and its poor quality, leading to the low sensitivity of epidemiological surveillance and poor outcomes, often without laboratory confirmation of the cause of death.Methods: Excess mortality due to COVID‐19 was estimated directly based on various data sources, and indirectly, based on the difference between the observed and expected number of deaths from serious acute respiratory infection (SARI) and all‐natural causes in 2020 had there been no COVID‐19. The absence of laboratory testing for SARS‐CoV‐2 was adjusted based on the proportion of those who tested positive among the tested individuals whose death was attributed to COVID‐19. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) were used to improve prediction of likely mortality without COVID‐19 in 2020.Results: Under‐reporting of COVID‐19 deaths was 22.62%, with a corresponding mortality rate per 100 000 inhabitants of 115 by the direct method, 71–76 by the indirect methods based on the excess SARI mortality and 95–104 by excess mortality due to natural causes. COVID‐19 was the third cause of mortality that contributed directly with 18%, and indirectly with additional 10–11% to all deaths in Brazil in 2020.Conclusions: Underestimation of COVID‐19 mortality between 1:5 and 1:4 is likely its lower bound. Timely and accurate surveillance of death causes is of the essence to evaluate the COVID‐19 burden.

People who used illicit drugs (PWUDs) represent an important population group for acquisition and viral dispersion. In Brazil, high rates of the human T lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1) and 2 (HTLV-2) have been reported in epidemiological studies. However, the epidemiological scenario of HTLV-1/2 infections in PWUDs is still poorly understood. Thus, this cross-sectional study determined the prevalence, frequency of subtypes and factors associated with HTLV-1/2 infections among PWUDs in the Brazilian state of Pará, an area considered endemic for this virus and with poor health services. Among 826 PWUDs, 53 (6.4%) presented anti-HTLV-1/2 antibodies by EIA and 44 (5.3%) presented proviral DNA by PCR. HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 were detected in 25 (3.0%) and 19 (2.3%) PWUDs, respectively. Subtypes 1a (25/44), transcontinental (23/44) and Japanese subgroups (2/44), 2b (6/44) and 2c (13/44) were identified. Involvement in illicit/criminal activity, daily use of illicit drugs, illicit drug use over 12 years, unprotected sex with other PWUDs, changes in genitalia (including ulcers and wounds), and more than 12 sexual partners were associated with HTLV-1/2 in PWUDs. This high prevalence and intense circulation of subtypes and subgroups of HTLV-1/2 is very worrying, and indicate the need for urgent actions for its control, prevention and treatment.

Several studies reported that the timing of eating events has critical implications in the prevention of obesity, but dietary patterns regarding the time-of-day have not been explored in children. The aim of this study was to derive latent food patterns of daily eating events and to examine their associations with overweight/obesity among schoolchildren. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted with 7–10-year-old Brazilian schoolchildren (n 1232) who completed the Previous Day Food Questionnaire, illustrated with twenty-one foods/beverages in six daily eating events. Latent class analysis was used to derive dietary patterns whose association with child weight status was evaluated by multivariate multinomial regression. Four mutually exclusive latent classes of dietary patterns were identified and labelled according to the time-of-day of eating events and food intake probability (FIP): (A) higher FIP only at lunch; (B) lower FIP at all eating events; (C) higher FIP at lunch, afternoon and evening snacks; (D) lower FIP at breakfast and at evening snack, higher FIP at other meals/snacks. The percentages of children within these classes were 32·3, 48·6, 15·1 and 4·0 %, respectively. After controlling for potential confounders, the mean probabilities of obesity for these classes were 6 % (95 % CI 3·0, 9·0), 13 % (95 % CI 9·0, 17·0), 12 % (95 % CI 6·0, 19) and 11 % (95 % CI 5·0, 17·0), in the same order. In conclusion, the children eating traditional lunch with rice and beans as the main meal of the day (class A) had the lowest obesity risk, thus reinforcing the importance of both the food type and the time-of-day of its intake for weight status.

RESUMO: Objetivo: Estimar a incidência e a tendência temporal dos acidentes de trabalho típicos na indústria têxtil e de confecção de Santa Catarina no período de 2008 a 2017. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo epidemiológico retrospectivo baseado nos dados da Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS). A tendência temporal foi analisada por meio do cálculo da mudança média anual e da regressão logística. Resultados: Houve tendência de queda na incidência de acidentes de trabalho em Santa Catarina no período estudado (8,8%). Observaram-se as maiores taxas de acidentes no ano de 2008 entre homens (12,6%), trabalhadores com faixa de idade entre 40 e 49 anos (6,7%), negros (7,4%), pessoas com menos de 12 anos de estudo (5,0%), com remuneração média de 3 a 7 salários mínimos (7,0%), com até quatro anos de tempo de emprego (6,9%), trabalhadores da fabricação de produtos têxteis (10,3%), estabelecimentos de médio porte (100 a 499 trabalhadores) (7,9%) e nas regiões da Grande Florianópolis (7,0%) e Vale do Itajaí (6,8%). Conclusões: O risco de acidente de trabalho típico caiu significativamente ao longo do período. Contudo futuros estudos são necessários para analisar novas relações que possam apontar outros fatores associados. Espera-se que este estudo possa contribuir para subsidiar ações de prevenção, promoção, proteção e reabilitação da saúde dos trabalhadores desse setor produtivo.

Background Pupil reactivity and the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score are the most clinically relevant information to predict the survival of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Objective We evaluated the accuracy of the GCS-Pupil score (GCS-P) as a prognostic index to predict hospital mortality in Brazilian patients with severe TBI and compare it with a model combining GCS and pupil response with additional clinical and radiological prognostic factors. Methods Data from 1,066 patients with severe TBI from 5 prospective studies were analyzed. We determined the association between hospital mortality and the combination of GCS, pupil reactivity, age, glucose levels, cranial computed tomography (CT), or the GCS-P score by multivariate binary logistic regression. Results Eighty-five percent (n = 908) of patients were men. The mean age was 35 years old, and the overall hospital mortality was 32.8%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.73 (0.70–0.77) for the model using the GCS-P score and 0.80 (0.77–0.83) for the model including clinical and radiological variables. The GCS-P score showed similar accuracy in predicting the mortality reported for the patients with severe TBI derived from the International Mission for Prognosis and Clinical Trials in TBI (IMPACT) and the Corticosteroid Randomization After Significant Head Injury (CRASH) studies. Conclusion Our results support the external validation of the GCS-P to predict hospital mortality following a severe TBI. The predictive value of the GCS-P for long-term mortality, functional, and neuropsychiatric outcomes in Brazilian patients with mild, moderate, and severe TBI deserves further investigation.

OBJETIVO: O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a prevalência em gestantes e a taxa de transmissão vertical do HIV, sífilis e hepatite B no município de Itajaí - SC, no período de 2002 a 2007. MÉTODOS: Este foi um estudo longitudinal retrospectivo, de base populacional, compreendendo os períodos de 2002 a 2007 para HIV e 2004 a 2007 para sífilis e hepatite B, utilizando os dados sistematizados dos sistemas de informação estadual e municipal. RESULTADOS: A prevalência das infecções virais em gestantes foi de 1,7% para HIV, 0,41% para hepatite B aguda, 0,46% para hepatite B crônica e 0,43% para sífilis. A transmissão vertical do HIV foi de 6,28%, sendo menor que 5% quando HIV foi diagnosticado antes ou durante a gravidez, comparado com 20% e 55% quando o diagnóstico foi feito durante ou após o parto. A transmissão vertical da sífilis foi de 68,89%. Não houve uma tendência estatisticamente significativa da transmissão vertical segundo ano de diagnóstico ou faixa etária para HIV e sífilis. Quase 44% das gestantes infectadas por HIV conheciam seu status sorológico antes da gravidez; a transmissão vertical neste grupo ficou menor que 5%. Não foi registrado nenhum caso da transmissão vertical da hepatite B. CONCLUSÕES: A transmissão vertical do HIV atingiu a meta do Ministério da Saúde quando o diagnóstico foi feito durante o pré-natal, mas foi expressivamente elevada quando o diagnóstico ocorreu somente no parto. A transmissão vertical da sífilis foi muito maior do que a preconizada, mostrando a importância de se reforçar os procedimentos estabelecidos para diminuí-la.