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Objective: To estimate the prevalence of illicit drug use and its association with binge drinking and sociodemographic factors among adolescent students., Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with probabilistic conglomerate sampling, involving 1,154 students, aged 13 to 19 years old, from the public school system, in the city of Olinda, State of Pernambuco, Brazil, carried out in 2014. We used the Youth Risk Behavior Survey questionnaire, validated for use with Brazilian adolescents. The Chi-square test (≤ 0.05) and Poisson regression analysis were used to estimate the prevalence ratios, with 95% confidence intervals., Results: Use in life of illicit drugs was four times more prevalent among students who reported binge drinking (95%CI 3.19-5.45). Being in the age group of 16 to 19 years, being male, and having no religion were also significantly associated with illicit drug use., Conclusions: The prevalence of use in life of illicit drugs was higher in this study than in other studies carried out in Brazil and it was strongly associated with binge drinking. This factor was associated with gender, age, and religion., Objetivo: Estimar a prevalência do uso de drogas ilícitas e sua associação com binge drinking e fatores sociodemográficos entre estudantes adolescentes., Métodos: Estudo transversal com amostra probabilística por conglomerado, envolvendo 1.154 estudantes, de 13 a 19 anos de idade, da rede pública de ensino, no município de Olinda, PE, 2014. Foi utilizado o questionário Youth Risk Behavior Survey, validado para uso com adolescentes brasileiros. Para análise dos dados foi utilizado o teste do Qui-quadrado (≤ 0,05) e análise de regressão de Poisson, para estimar razões de prevalência, com intervalos com 95% de confiança., Resultados: O uso na vida de drogas ilícitas foi quatro vezes mais prevalente entre os estudantes que relataram o binge drinking (IC95% 3,19-5,45). Estar na faixa etária de 16 a 19 anos, ser do sexo masculino e não ter religião também foram significativamente associados ao uso de drogas ilícitas., Conclusões: A prevalência do uso de drogas ilícitas na vida foi superior a outros estudos realizados no Brasil e esteve fortemente associado ao binge drinking. Esse fator mostrou associação com gênero, idade e religião.

Clinical trials are normally performed with well-known brands of glass ionomer cement (GIC), but the cost of these materials is high for public healthcare in less-affluent communities. Given the need to research cheaper materials, it seems pertinent to investigate the retention rate of a low-cost GIC applied as atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) sealants in two centers in Brazil. Four hundred and thirty-seven 6-to-8-year-old schoolchildren were selected in two cities in Brazil. The children were randomly divided into two groups, according to the tested GIC applied in the first permanent molars. The retention rate was evaluated after 3, 6 and 12 months. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the log-rank test were performed. The variables were tested for association with sealant longevity, using logistic regression analyses (α = 5%). The retention rate of sealants after 12 months was 19.1%. The high-cost GIC brand presented a 2-fold-more-likely-to-survive rate than the low-cost brand (p < 0.001). Significant difference was also found between the cities where the treatments were performed, in that Barueri presented a higher sealant survival rate than Recife (p < 0.001). The retention rate of a low-cost GIC sealant brand was markedly lower than that of a well-known GIC sealant brand.

The objective of this article is to translate, to adapt and to validate the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey to apply at Brazilian college students. 208 college students from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) and University of Pernambuco (UPE) participated in the study. The validation was carried through in five stages: (1) translation; (2) retrotranslation; (3) correction and semantic adaptation (cultural adaptation); (4) face validation; (5) test-retest. Adaptations were done to deal with any semantic disagreements found between translation and retrotranslation. After face validation, the questionnaire was reduced from 96 to 52 questions. From the 11 items analyzed, the majority presented good and perfect Kappa: security and violence (Kappa=0.89); suicide (Kappa=1.00); use of the tobacco (Kappa=0.90); drinking consumption (Kappa=0.78); cocaine and other drugs consumption (Kappa=0.70); sexual behavior (Kappa=0,88) and corporal weight (Kappa=0.89). Only the item about feeding presented weak Inter-examiner Kappa (Kappa = 0.26) and the topic on health information presented moderate Kappa (Kappa=0.56). The average Kappa for all items was good (0.76). The instrument may be considered validated in the Portuguese language in Brazil with acceptable reproducibility.

This study investigated whether undergraduate students' health-risk behaviors differed according to gender. The sample consisted of 382 subjects, aged 20-29 years, from public universities in Pernambuco State, Brazil. Data were collected using the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey, previously validated in Portuguese. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used. Associations were analyzed with the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Statistical significance was set at p < or = 0.05. In general, females engaged in the following risk behaviors less frequently than males: alcohol consumption (p = 0.005), smoking (p = 0.002), experimenting with marijuana (p = 0.002), consumption of inhalants (p < or = 0.001), steroid use (p = 0.003), carrying weapons (p = 0.001), and involvement in physical fights (p = 0.014). Meanwhile, female students displayed more concern about losing or maintaining weight, although they exercised less frequently than males. The findings thus showed statistically different health behaviors between genders. In conclusion, different approaches need to be used for the two genders.

Objective: To analyze differences in health behavior among students studying health related subjects in public universities, between the beginning and end of their courses., Methods: The study sample comprised 735 students in health sciences at the public universities in Pernambuco state (Northeastern Brazil) in 2006. The data were collected by means of the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey that had been validated previously for use among university students. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used. The chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used to analyze associations. Results were considered to be significant for p<0.05., Results: The majority (69.5%) of students were female. Fewer students were found to be living with their parents or a guardian by the end of the course. However there were no significant differences for violent behavior, related to weight and physical activity, nor for most behavior relating to traffic safety and food intake. The consumption of alcohol (68.8% vs. 83.3%), tobacco (40.7% vs. 52.5%) and inhalants (10.2% vs. 21.9%) and sexual practices (62.5% vs. 85.0%) were more frequent by the end of the course, with statistically significant differences., Conclusions: In general, health behaviors did not differ significantly between students at the beginning and end of graduate courses in health sciences.