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Chronic non-communicable diseases correspond to the main cause of death in the world and have inadequate nutrition as one of its main modifiable risk factors, highlighting the excessive consumption of sodium and its association with cardiovascular diseases, mediated by blood pressure. This study evaluated the impact of different policy scenarios for reducing sodium consumption from processed and ultra-processed foods in the prevention of deaths due to cardiovascular outcomes in the adult population in Brazil. We used secondary data from public reports and databases of the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and population surveys. We analyzed the impacts, up to 2027, of three scenarios: maintenance of the current voluntary targets, and two mandatory scenarios, considering the lowest targets in the Americas and the lowest global targets. The Preventable Risk Integrated ModEl (PRIME) analyzed the deaths prevented or delayed from sodium consumption in such scenarios. In 2027, more than 72,000 deaths would be attributed to excess sodium; the voluntary goals would result in the prevention or postponement of up to 4,001 (95% uncertainty intervals - 95%UI: 1,611-6,563) deaths, while the mandatory scenarios would result in the prevention of 9,704 (95%UI: 3,955-15,665) and 15,561 (95%UI: 6,350-25,096) deaths from cardiovascular diseases, considering the lower regional and international targets, respectively. The findings suggest that the maintenance of voluntary targets has limited impact when compared to possible and more restrictive scenarios of reducing sodium content in processed and ultra-processed foods and reinforce the need to adopt measures with greater effectiveness in the country.

This study analyzes the supply and use of computed tomography scanners (CT) in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) according to State and administrative levels in the year 2009. Secondary data were used to estimate the installed CT capacity in public healthcare facilities and in private services outsourced by the SUS and calculated the rate of utilization. Average national CT utilization was less than 10%. The public sector showed lower CT use than the private sector outsourced by the SUS. The number of CT tests in the SUS was less than half the number produced in developed countries. The results thus suggest the need for further studies on management practices with high-technology equipment in order to improve allocation of current and future public resources in supplying CT tests.

This article describes the prevalence of risk and protective factors for chronic non-communicable diseases in Brazil, using data collected in 2007 through the telephone disease surveillance system (VIGITEL). We evaluated 54,252 adults residing in Brazil's State capitals and Federal District. Men showed higher rates of smoking, overweight, consumption of soft drinks and fatty meat, sufficient leisure-time physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, and binge drinking; women showed higher consumption of fruits and vegetables. For men with more schooling, the probability of smoking decreased by 42% and consumption of fatty meat decreased by 31%; overweight increased 86%, sedentary lifestyle 42%, regular consumption of fruits and vegetables 89%, and leisure-time physical activity 78%. For women with more schooling, the probability of smoking decreased 31%, overweight 26%, and consumption of fatty meat 35%; sedentary lifestyle increased 76%, leisure-time physical activity 77%, regular consumption of fruits and vegetables 48%, and recommended consumption of fruits and vegetables 75%.

The aim of this study was to identify predictors of poor health in children less than two years of age from river-dwelling families in Pará State, Brazil. A total of 202 children were evaluated, considering poor health as the outcome variable, consisting of the combination of nutritional status, psychomotor development, and intercurrent illnesses in the previous month. The data were analyzed with a multilevel hierarchical model, and predictors of poor health were defined as variables with p < 0.05 after adjustment. According to the crude odds ratio, poor health is associated with families that own their own homes, are older, and present exclusive breastfeeding at two, three, four, and five months. After adjustment, children with families that own their homes showed 2.76 greater odds of having poor health; poor health also increased with age, and was 5.04 higher among children from 18 to 23 months, as compared to infants less than 7 months of age. In these communities, home owning and higher age represent longer exposure to the risk of poor health.

This study examined the spatial distribution of childhood community-acquired pneumonia detected through prospective surveillance in Goiânia, Brazil. Three spatial analysis techniques were applied to detect intra-urban geographic aggregation of pneumonia cases: Kernel method, nearest neighbor hierarchical technique, and spatial scan statistic. A total of 724 pneumonia cases confirmed by chest radiography were identified from May 2000 to August 2001. All cases were geocoded on a digital map. The annual pneumonia risk rate was estimated at 566 cases/100,000 children. Analysis using traditional descriptive epidemiology showed a mosaic distribution of pneumonia rates, while GIS methodologies showed a non-random pattern with hot spots of pneumonia. Cluster analysis by spatial scan statistic identified two high-risk areas for pneumonia occurrence, including one most likely cluster (RR = 2.1; p < 0.01) and one secondary cluster (RR = 1.3; p = 0.01). The data used for the study are in line with recent WHO-led efforts to improve and standardize pediatric pneumonia surveillance in developing countries and show how GIS and spatial analysis can be applied to discriminate target areas of pneumonia for public heath intervention.

Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) are currently considered potentially carcinogenic to humans. In Brasil, severe soil contamination by HCHs has been identified at Cidade dos Meninos, Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, where an old HCH factory was abandoned 40 years ago, leaving 1,700 local residents at risk. Calcium oxide treatment was performed on the most heavily contaminated (focus) area. Analysis of superficial soil samples collected years after treatment still showed high residual HCH. Contamination levels as high as 6,200mg/Kg and 7,320mg/Kg were found for alpha- and beta-HCH isomers. For the gamma- and delta-HCH isomers, concentrations reached up to 140mg/Kg and 530mg/Kg, respectively. The results showed that calcium oxide treatment was not efficient to decontaminate the soil in this area.

The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial pattern of neonatal and post-neonatal mortality in the city of Goiânia, Central Brazil. Analyses were based on linked birth and death certificates relating to 101,000 in-hospital live births from mothers residing in the city of Goiânia over the 1992-1996 period. Overall neonatal and post-neonatal mortality probabilities were calculated using the linked database. The empirical Bayes method was applied to smooth the estimated rates and minimize random fluctuation. Spatial units of analysis were 65 urban districts, corresponding to the urban planning sectors. The following exploratory spatial analyses were applied: "global" Moran's I statistic, local Moran LISA map, and Gi* local statistics. For both neonatal and post-neonatal mortality there was statistically significant spatial autocorrelation. Results of post-neonatal mortality showed a high-risk cluster located on the outskirts of the city. For the neonatal period, a heterogeneous mortality pattern was found with high-risk districts in all regions, including central areas.

In this article we discuss the methodological issues associated with the creation of a surveillance system for endemic diseases in urban areas based on analysis of populations at risk and on spatially referenced epidemiological indicators. We comment on the system's basic requirements, selection criteria for socioeconomic variables, and methodological steps to combine these variables so as to construct a census-based deprivation index. We also present the ways we solved some operational problems related to generation of digitized census tracts maps and linkage of morbidity data from different sources. This approach, spatial organization into account in surveillance of endemic diseases, exemplified here by tuberculosis and leprosy, allows for the interaction of several official data sets from census and health services in order to geographically discriminate inner-city risk strata. Criteria for constructing these risk strata were considered a useful tool for health planning and management activities for the control of endemic diseases in cities.