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Background Depression is the most common mental illness, achieving more than 264 million people worldwide. Although diet quality may be associated with depression symptoms, this relationship has not been deeply investigated among Brazilians. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate this relationship. Methods This is a population-based cross-sectional study with representative individuals aged 18 years or over living in an urban area. Individuals were selected using a multistage sampling procedure. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was used to screen for major depressive episodes, and a Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to evaluate diet. We used a hierarchical model to conduct the analyses and calculated prevalence ratio using Poisson regression. Results A total of 820 subjects were assessed, with mean age of 54.8 (±17.4) years. Prevalence of major depressive episodes was 29.2%. After final adjustment, diet quality remained directly associated with depression (p = 0.024). Individuals with the worst diet quality were 39% more likely to have major depressive episodes when compared to those who had the best diet quality. Depression was also associated with consumption of soda or artificial juice and are food markers of unhealthy diets. Limitations The cross-sectional design does not establish whether the associations are causal, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 is a screening scale - not a diagnostic tool; however, it is easy, quick to apply, and is widely used in epidemiological studies. Conclusion The results provide important evidence about the role of diets on that mood disorder, which contributes to management approaches to depression.

Fear is a reaction that can influence multiple aspects of health and life. During the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been serious pathophysiological, social, behavioral and mental consequences that can be related to fear. This study aimed to assess the fear of Covid-19 and its association with sociodemographic, behavioral and health variables. Data were gathered from two cross-sectional population-based studies conducted in 2020 with adults from two cities from Southern Brazil. The Fear of Covid-19 scale was used to evaluate fear of Covid. Exposure variables were socioeconomic, demographic, health and pandemic-related factors. Adjusted Poisson regression was performed to assess the association between fear of Covid-19 and the exposure variables. A total of 2,152 subjects were assessed. Higher fear of Covid-19 was found among women and in individuals with symptoms of Covid-19. Living alone, being richer, and testing positive for Covid-19 were associated with lower prevalence of fear. Higher prevalence of fear of Covid-19 was related to worse sleep quality, worse health perception, sadness, higher stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. There was a linear association between fear of Covid-19 and health outcomes. The results provide evidence that fear of Covid-19 seems to be associated with socioeconomic, demographic, health and pandemic-related factors.

This study aimed to evaluate the association between sleep duration and quality and mental health before and amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Data from two population-based cross-sectional studies conducted in 2019 and 2020 with adults in Criciúma, Southern Brazil. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to screen major depressive episodes, while the perceived stress scale was used to assess perceived stress. Sleep was evaluated through self-reported duration and quality. Crude and adjusted Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between sleep and mental health disorders.A total of 820 (in 2019) and 863 subjects (in 2020) were assessed. Sleep quality presented significant associations with depression and stress in both years, and the magnitude of the association with depression increased amid COVID-19 pandemic. In individuals with poor/very poor sleep quality, the risk of depression in 2019 was 2.14 (95%IC 1.48;3.09) higher when compared to those with good/very good sleep quality. This risk increased to 2.26 (95%IC 1.49;3.40) in 2020. The risk of stress was 1.90 (95%IC 1.42;2.55) in 2019 and 1.66 (95%IC1.34;2.07) in 2020. The sleep duration was not associated with mental health disorders in the adjusted analyses.The results provide important evidence that sleep quality can influence mental health of adults. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have had a considerable impact on this association.

Summary Objective To ascertain whether the NSI (Nutrition Screening Initiative Checklist) is a valid screening instrument for diagnosing nutritional risk in an older population from a medium-size city in the south of Brazil. Methods The study population comprised individuals aged 60 years or older selected from a population-based cross-sectional survey. Data collection was carried out at two different timepoints: first, the NSI (instrument under test) was applied and later a dietary recall (gold standard) based on the previous day. Validity analyses were performed based on sensitivity and specificity as well as the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve. Results A total of 183 older adults were studied. Agreement between the dietary recall and the NSI for positive and negative results was 54.6%.The sensitivity and specificity values were low for all cut-off points of the instrument. The area under the curve was 0.52 (95%CI: 0.44–0.62) for the cut-off point ≥6. Conclusion Based on sensitivity and specificity values, the NSI proved ineffective for application in the population studied.

Objective To investigate factors associated with sleep duration in adolescence. Methods Data are from the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study of 5249 live births. Of these individuals, 4563 were located for follow-up at 18 years of age, and 4106 agreed to be interviewed (follow-up rate 81.3%). Sleep duration was continuously assessed by survey as hours per weekday. Additional covariates were collected during the perinatal period and at the 11- and 18-year follow-ups. Linear regression models were used to estimate associations between sleep duration and its hypothesized influences. All analyses were sex-stratified. Results The average sleep duration among participants was 8.4 hours (standard deviation 1.9). Longer sleep duration at 18 years of age was associated with the following perinatal factors: low maternal schooling, low family income, maternal black skin color, and low birth weight; and with the following factors measured at 18 years of age: being out of school, low achieved schooling, low family income, absence of depressive symptoms, and high screen time. Conclusion Social and demographic variables may play an important role in determining adolescents' sleep duration, but the nature of these relationships in Brazil may differ from those observed in higher-income contexts.