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Maternal educational attainment has been identified as relevant to several child health and development outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the association of sociodemographic and maternal education factors with child development in families living below the poverty line. A cross-sectional study was conducted through telephone contact from May to July 2021 in Ceará, a state in Northeastern Brazil. The study population comprised families with children up to six years of age participating in the cash transfer program "Mais infância". The families selected to participate in this program must have a monthly per capita income of less than US$16.50. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire version 3 was applied to assess the children's development status. The mothers reported maternal educational attainment as the highest grade and or degree obtained. The final weighted and adjusted model showed that maternal schooling was associated with the risk of delay in all domains except for the fine motor domain. The risk of delay in at least one domain was 2.5-fold higher in mothers with a lower level of schooling (95% CI: 1.6-3.9). The findings of this study suggest that mothers with higher educational attainment have children with better child development outcomes.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences and identify associated factors., Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study comprised data from a sample of 3,200 households with 3,566 children under 6 years of age, representative of the state of Ceará, Brazil. A multistage sampling approach was used, with stratification among the state capital, Fortaleza, and the 28 countryside municipalities, in which 160 census tracts were randomly selected, each one with a cluster of 20 households. The outcome variable was structured based on adverse childhood experiences as suggested by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the number of situations to which the child was exposed: 0-2, 3-5, and 6-9. Ordinal logistic regression multivariate model was applied to assess associations., Results: Among the 3,566 children studied, 89.7% (95%CI 88.7-90.7) were exposed to at least one adverse experience, of which the most prevalent were neglect, and emotional/physical abuse. The main factors associated were maternal advanced age and smoking, paternal absence, low education level of the head of the family, food insecurity and lack of a social support network., Conclusion: The study found a high occurrence of adverse early childhood experiences, particularly among preschool children born to mothers of older age, solo, who smoke and in a situation of social and economic vulnerability, including food insecurity, who should be target of control and prevention measures.

Background: Preterm newborn nutrition affects postnatal skeletal growth and bone mineralization, but studies have not yet fully concluded the relationship between nutrition and osteopenia. This study was intended to investigate the impact of nutritional factors on osteopenia in preterm newborns., Methods: This is a case-control study with babies born with gestational age ≤ 32 weeks in a high-risk maternity hospital, between 2018 and 2019. The population consisted of 115 newborns, being 46 cases (40%) and 69 controls (60%). Disease outcome was based on serum alkaline phosphatase levels > 900UL/l and hypophosphatemia < 4 mg/dl. Gestational data at birth and clinical and nutritional follow-up data during 8 weeks postnatally were assessed. Variables were assessed using regressive logistic models., Findings: Preterm infants who were fed pasteurized fresh human milk with acidity ≥ 4 ºDornic are 5.36 times more likely to develop osteopenia (p = 0.035). Higher calcium intake, compared to controls, also increased the probability of disease occurrence [OR 1.05 (CI 1.006-1.1); p = 0.025], while the presence of a partner [OR 0.10 (CI 0.02-0.59); p = 0.038] and the shortest time using sedatives [OR 0.89 (CI 0.83-0.98); p = 0.010] were protective factors associated with osteopenia. Extremely low birth weight [OR 5.49 (CI 1.20-25.1); p = 0.028], sepsis [OR 5.71 (CI 1.35-24.2); p = 0.018] and invasive ventilatory support [OR 1.09 (CI 1.03-1.18); p = 0.007] were risk factors., Conclusions: Acidity and high calcium intake are the main nutritional factors associated with osteopenia of prematurity. Further studies on the use of human milk with lower acidity, recommendation and nutritional supplementation of calcium should be accomplished to guide prevention strategies in newborns at risk for osteopenia during hospital stay., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Parenting practices have been identified as a key determinant of children’s developmental outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of parenting practices with child development in a cross-sectional population-based study in a low-income state in northeastern Brazil. The study included data on 3566 caregiver−child pairs, and the children were aged 0−66 months. Positive parenting behaviors (PPBs) were conceptualized in areas of interactive play, social development, and speech and language interactions. Child development was evaluated using the Brazilian Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationships. We found that a greater number of PPBs was associated with better child development domain scores. Among infants < 1 year, each additional PPB was associated with a 0.32 standardized mean difference (SMD) greater communication (95% CI: 0.24−0.41) and 0.38 SMD greater problem-solving scores (95% CI: 0.24−0.52). Among children aged 4−6 years old, each additional PPB was associated with improved communication (SMD: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.13−0.32), problem solving (SMD: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.10−0.32) and personal−social domain scores (SMD: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.17−0.36). Our findings indicate that PPB were robustly associated with better outcomes across developmental domains among Brazilian children. Programs and interventions that support PPB can contribute to improvements in development outcomes.

Objective: To explore the relationship of undernutrition and the short duration of breastfeeding with child development of children 0-66 months of age residing in Ceará, Brazil., Methods: The authors of the present study utilized population-based data from children enrolled in the Study on Maternal and Child Health in Ceará, Brazil (PESMIC). Children's development was assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire third version, validated in Brazil. Undernutrition was accessed through anthropometric measures obtained by trained staff. Breastfeeding information was obtained through the mothers' report and confirmed in the child's governmental booklet. The authors used logistic regressions adjusted for sample clusters used in PESMIC design in a theoretical model for known determinants of child development following the World Health Organization nurturing framework., Results: A total of 3,566 children were enrolled in the sixth PESMIC study and had their development assessed. The authors found that 8.2%, 3.0%, 2.1%, and 3.6% of children were stunted, underweight, or wasted, at the time of the interview, respectively. All studied factors were associated with a higher prevalence of child development impairment in at least one of the assessed domains. Underweight was the factor with the strongest effect, with an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 4,14 (2,26-7,58), p < 0.001. Breastfeeding for up to two months compared to more than six months (AOR 2,08 (1,38-3,12)) was also associated., Conclusions: The authors found that undernutrition and short duration of breastfeeding are associated with development outcomes among Brazilian children. As a result, integrated nutritional programs may improve child development outcomes., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.)

Background: Globally, children's exposure to digital screens continues to increase and is associated with adverse effects on child health. We aimed to evaluate the association of screen exposure with child communication, gross-motor, fine-motor, problem-solving, and personal-social development scores., Methods: We conducted a population-based, cross-sectional study with cluster sampling among children 0-60 months of age living in the state of Ceará, Brazil. Child screen time was assessed by maternal report and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations were used to define excessive screen time exposure. Child development was assessed with the Brazilian Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Generalized linear regression was used to determine the association of screen exposure with developmental outcomes. We also examined the potential non-linear relationship of screen time with development scores using spline analyses., Results: A total of 3155 children 0-60 months of age had screen time exposure evaluated and 69% percent were identified as exposed to excessive screen time. This percentage of excess screen time increased with child age from 41.7% for children 0-12 months to 85.2% for children 49-60 months. Each additional hour of screen time was associated with lower child communication (standardized mean difference (SMD): -0.03; 95% CI: - 0.04, - 0.02), problem solving (SMD: -0.03; 95% CI: - 0.05, - 0.02) and personal-social (SMD: -0.04; 95% CI: - 0.06, - 0.03) domain scores., Conclusions: Excess screen time exposure was highly prevalent and independently associated with poorer development outcomes among children under 5 years of age in Ceará, Brazil., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: The first 1000 days of life are a critical period when the foundations of child development and growth are established. Few studies in Latin America have examined the relationship of birth outcomes and neonatal care factors with development outcomes in young children. We aimed to assess the association between pregnancy and neonatal factors with children's developmental scores in a cross-sectional, population-based study of children in Ceará, Brazil., Methods: Population-based, cross-sectional study of children aged 0-66 months (0-5.5 years) living in Ceará, Brazil. We examined the relationship of pregnancy (iron and folic acid supplementation, smoking and alcohol consumption) and neonatal (low birth weight (LBW) gestational age, neonatal care interventions, and breastfeeding in the first hour) factors with child development. Children's development was assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-BR). We used multivariate generalized linear models that accounted for clustering sampling to evaluate the relationship of pregnancy and neonatal factors with development domain scores., Findings: A total of 3566 children were enrolled. Among pregnancy factors, children whose mothers did not receive folic acid supplementation during pregnancy had lower fine motor and problem-solving scores (p-values< 0.05). As for neonatal factors, LBW was associated with 0.14 standard deviations (SD) lower (CI 95% -0.26, - 0.02) communication, 0.24 SD lower (95% CI: - 0.44, - 0.04) fine motor and 0.31 SD lower (CI 95% -0.45, - 0.16) problem-solving domain scores as compared to non-LBW children (p values < 0.05). In terms of care, newborns that required resuscitation, antibiotics for infection, or extended in-patient stay after birth had lower development scores in selected domains. Further, not initiating breastfeeding within the first hour after birth was associated with lower gross motor and person-social development scores (p-values < 0.05)., Conclusion: Pregnancy and neonatal care factors were associated with later child development outcomes. Infants at increased risk of suboptimal development, like LBW or newborns requiring extended in-patient care, may represent groups to target for supplemental intervention. Further, early integrated interventions to prevent adverse pregnancy and newborn outcomes may improve child development outcomes.

Introduction: More than 200 million children fail to reach their full developmental potential in low- and middle-income countries. Adverse childhood experiences, maternal mental health, and intimate partner violence are negatively associated with child development outcomes. The relationship of these risk factors with child communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal-social development scores in Brazil are assessed., Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional study of preschool children living in the state of Ceará, Brazil, in 2017 was conducted. Child development was assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Adverse childhood experiences for children were self-reported by the participants' mothers using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adverse Childhood Experiences Study‒adapted metric. Maternal mental health and intimate partner violence were evaluated using validated questionnaires. Sample-adjusted multivariable generalized linear models with interaction terms were used to determine the association of intimate partner violence, maternal mental health, and adverse childhood experiences with developmental outcomes and identify possible moderators. Data were analyzed between 2019 and 2020., Results: Children exposed to ≥3 adverse childhood experiences had -0.12 (95% CI= -0.24, 0) lower communication, -0.25 (95% CI= -0.46, -0.03) lower gross motor, -0.27 (95% CI= -0.47, -0.07) lower fine motor, and -0.17 (95% CI= -0.3, -0.03) lower personal-social domain scores than children with no adverse childhood experiences. Furthermore, the greater number of adverse childhood experiences was linearly associated with lower developmental scores. Maternal mental health and intimate partner violence were also associated with lower development scores., Conclusions: Adverse childhood experiences were independently associated with developmental outcomes in Brazilian children. Community-based interventions to reduce the impact of adverse childhood experiences, intimate partner violence, and maternal mental health may benefits child development outcomes., (Copyright © 2020 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Living in a shelter is an adverse experience that generates toxic stress. This situation can cause the dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and exert a negative impact on health.The aim of the present study was to determine the association between toxic stress and social, clinical and nutritional characteristics in children at welfare institutions in a city of northeastern of Brazil., Methods: An analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted with male and female children up to 60 months of age who live in shelters. Hair cortisol was used for the assessment of stress (immunoassay). The anthropometric data collected were height for age, body mass index for age, arm circumference for age, and head circumference for age (expressed in z-scores). We also evaluated food intake using markers proposed by the Brazilian Dietary and Nutritional Vigilance Surveillance System as well as the occurrence of dental caries and anemia., Results: Sixty-three children one to 60 months of age participated in the present study. Asthma was the most frequent disease (11.1%). The prevalence of short stature, anemia and dental caries in the sample was 22.2, 22.2 and 9.4%, respectively. Cortisol levels ranged from 0.93 pg/mg to 391.29 pg/mg (median: 6.17 pg/mg). Higher cortisol levels were found in children with illnesses (p = 0.012) and those who had been hospitalized after being admitted to the institutions (p = 0.001)., Conclusions: The majority of children had unhealthy eating behavior. The cortisol concentrations found in the present study were suggestive of dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Hypercortisolism was associated with illness and hospitalization.

Objective: The aim was to analyze the factors associated with neonatal near miss (NNM) in twin pregnancies in a public referral maternity unit in Brazil., Material and Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional study included 697 twin newborns. Cases of fetal and neonatal deaths were excluded. Neonates were divided into those meeting NNM criteria (5 min Apgar score <7, birth weight <1,500 g, gestational age at delivery <32 weeks, use of mechanical ventilation or congenital malformation, transfer before 28 days of life) and those who did not. In the bivariate analysis, the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used. Variables with a p-value ≤0.20 were subjected to the multiple analyses, which followed the Poisson regression model., Results: The cohort consisted of 130 (18.7%) neonates meeting NNM criteria and 567 (81.3%) with no NNM criteria after multiple analyses, the following variables were associated with NNM: no previous pregnancy, prevalence ratio (PR): 1.38 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03-1.85]; >3 previous pregnancies, PR: 1.93 (95% CI, 1.38-2.69); premature rupture of membranes, PR: 1.50 (95% CI, 1.70-2.12); intrauterine growth restriction, PR: 2.28 (95% CI, 1.53-3.33); premature labor, PR: 1.63 (95% CI, 1.13-2.35); resuscitation in the delivery room, PR: 1.80 (95% CI, 1.24-2.62); and transfusion of blood products, PR: 4.44 (95% CI, 3.14-6.28)., Conclusion: The study findings indicate that having had 0 or >3 previous pregnancies, premature rupture of the membranes, intrauterine growth restriction, resuscitation in the delivery room, premature labor, and transfusion of blood products were associated with NNM in twin pregnancies.

Objective: To analyze the accuracy of the Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology Perinatal Extension (SNAPPE II) as a death predictor, to determine the cutoff point for mortality, and to analyze the association of independent variables with death., Methods: Prospective, longitudinal, hospital-based study on newborns admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for the first time from November 1, 2016 to April 30, 2017. Newborns with less than 12 hours of length of stay at the NICU, out-of-hospital births, major congenital malformations, and inter-hospital transfer were excluded. Variables were grouped according to hierarchical framework, related to maternal characteristics (distal level), prenatal and childbirth care (intermediate level), and birth conditions (proximal level). Descriptive analyses of SNAPPE II score ranges, Receiver Operating Characteristics Curve (ROC curve) to define the cutoff point for mortality, and bivariate analysis by the Wald test and multiple logistic regression were conducted., Results: After selection, the sample consisted of 247 newborns. In this study, the SNAPPE II cutoff point for mortality was 27, with sensitivity of 84.1% and specificity of 82.4%. 61% of those with a score ≥27 died. Multiple logistic regression showed an association between death and proximal-level variables: sepsis (Odds Ratio [OR] 10.68; 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 2.82-40.48; p<0.001); SNAPPE II ≥27 (OR 5.85; 95%CI 1.90-18.05; p=0.002); birth weight 750-999 g (OR 4.15; 95%CI 1.06-16.14; p=0.040); and nonuse of surfactant (OR 0.159; 95%CI 0.04-0.53; p=0.003)., Conclusions: Neonatal mortality was directly proportional to increase in SNAPPE II. Score≥27 increased the odds of dying by six times compared with neonates with lower scores. The proximal variables related to health conditions and neonatal care were associated with death.

Background: To evaluate the association between delays in obstetric care and neonatal near-miss mortality events and death in a public maternity referral center., Methods: This case-control study enrolled 142 neonates, meeting the near-miss criteria of 5-min Apgar < 7, weight < 1500 g, gestational age < 32 weeks, and use of mechanical ventilation or congenital malformation, as well as 284 controls (without the near-miss criteria), at a ratio of 1:2. After follow-up, the following outcomes were reclassified: survival of the neonatal period without the near-miss criteria (true "controls"), "near-miss," and "neonatal death." Maternal sociodemographic characteristics, prenatal care, and pregnancy resolution were evaluated. Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used. Simple logistic regression was performed to determine the association between the three delay factors with near-miss outcomes and/or neonatal death. The variables that had maintained values of p < 0.05 were subjected to multinomial logistic regression., Results: Comparisons revealed the following associations: for controls and near-miss events, delayed access to health services due to a lack of specialized services (odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8-5.1) and inappropriate conduct with the patient (OR, 12.1; 95% CI, 1.3-108.7); for controls and death, absent or inadequate prenatal care (OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.6-7.1) and delayed access to health services due to a lack of specialized services (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.1-5.6); and for near-miss events and death, absent or inadequate prenatal care (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.0-5.0). Logistic regression for the combined outcome (near-miss plus neonatal deaths) revealed absent or inadequate prenatal care (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2-2.8), lack of specialized services (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.7-4.5), and improper conduct with the patient (OR, 10.6; 95% CI, 1.2-91.8)., Conclusions: The delays in obstetric care associated with the presence of near-miss and/or neonatal death included absent or inadequate prenatal care, delayed access to health services due to a lack of specialized services, and inappropriate conduct with the patient.

Childhood obesity is now an epidemic in many countries worldwide and is known to be a multifactorial condition. We aimed to examine the relationship of environmental, socioeconomic, and nutritional factors with childhood overweight and obesity. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of children from 2 to 6 years of age in Ceará, Brazil. Children's nutritional status was assessed by body mass index (BMI) Z scores categorized as overweight and obesity. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between the factors with overweight and obesity. A total of 2059 children participated, of which 50.4% were male. The mean age was 46 ± 17 months, with a prevalence of overweight and obesity of 12.0% (95% CI 10.7-13.6) and 8.0% (6.7-9.5), respectively. In multivariate analysis, the probability of childhood obesity increased as family income increased (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 0.6 (95% CI 0.37-0.95), p -value = 0.03). Moreover, families with fewer children had more than 30% fewer overweight children (aHR 0.68; 95% CI 0.48-0.96). Environmental, socioeconomic, and child nutritional factors were associated with overweight and obesity. The results provided could be used to design integrated interventions spanning from conception, or earlier, through the first years of life and may improve child nutritional outcomes., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of child development delay and to identify socioeconomic determinants., Study Design: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of children 2 to 72 months of age residing in the state of Ceará, Brazil. In total, 3200 households were randomly selected for participation in the study and had child development assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) version 3. Development delay was defined as a score of less than -2 standard deviations below the median of the Brazilian ASQ standard. We present population-level prevalence of delay in five development domains and assess socioeconomic determinants., Results: A total of 3566 children completed the ASQ development assessment of which 9.2% (95% CI: 8.1-10.5) had at least one domain with development delay. The prevalence of delay increased with age in all domains and males were at higher risk for communication, gross motor and personal-social development delays as compared to females (p-values <0.05). We found robust associations of indicators of socioeconomic status with risk of development delay; increasing monthly income and higher social class were associated with reduced risk of delay across all domains (28,2% in the poorest and 21,2% in richest for any delay, p-values <0.05 for all domains). In addition, children in poor households that participated in conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs appeared to have reduced risk of delay as compared to children from households that were eligible, but did not participate, in CCT programs., Conclusions: There is a relatively high population-level prevalence of development delay in at least one domain among children 0-6 years of age in Ceará, Brazil. Integrated child development, social support, and poverty reduction interventions may reduce the population-level prevalence of development delay in Ceará and similar settings., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Brazil presented an alarming number of newborns with microcephaly in the years 2015 and 2016. The investigation of the cases raised the suspicion of the association of these cases with maternal infections by the zika virus. Also, in 2015, there was an epidemic of zika virus infection in Brazil, reinforcing this hypothesis., Objective: The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with the diagnosis of microcephaly in newborns, including zika virus infection., Methods: We conducted a case-control study. The cases were defined as children who received clinical and imaging diagnosis of microcephaly, born after October 2015 in Ceará, Brazil, which recorded the highest number of microcephaly cases in Brazil during the outbreak. The cases were identified in medical records of public and private maternity hospitals and in child development stimulation clinics tracked until June 2017. Epidemiological, clinical, and socioeconomic variables were collected, visiting their homes and confirming data from their medical records. Controls were children without microcephaly identified in the vicinity of the residence of each case. Logistic regression models were used to control confounding., Findings: We evaluated 58 cases and 116 controls. The odds of having a baby with microcephaly was 14 times higher among mothers who had zika virus infection (p &lt; 0.001), after multivariate analysis. Arboviruses infections symptoms, as fever (p = 0.220), skin change (p &lt; 0.001), and joint pain (p = 0.002) also demonstrated an association with microcephaly., Conclusions: Maternal infection zika virus was associated with a diagnosis of microcephaly. Our study contributes to the investigation of the epidemiological factors associated with the diagnosis of microcephaly., Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare., (© 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.)

Background: Cross-sectional studies are fundamental studies in the practice of epidemiological science. This article aims to present in detail the methodology for conducting a series of cross-sectional studies, as well as the analysis of data through pooled data., Methods: The series of studies are population cross-sectional studies, with statewide coverage, searching for representative sample of reproductive aged women and pre-school children in Ceará, Brazil. The sampling plan followed simple random, stratified, systematic and by conglomerates, in sequence. About 300 variables were collected. For each of the individual studies, multivariate data analysis was used to verify associations between dependent variables. For all the studies together, techniques used were trend chi-squared and pooled data analysis using linear mixed modeling procedures., Results: There were 6 studies in sequence, for 30 years. Among other findings, the variables income, maternal education and breastfeeding time proved to be associated with the reduction of malnutrition in children considering all the period (p values 0.013, 0.033 and 0.037, respectively)., Conclusions: Cross-sectional studies can be replicated at regular time series following the methodology exposed in this, even for locations with limited resources, ensuring adequate management of decisions of using federal funding aimed at achieving targeted programs to maximize the results obtained with the public resource available., Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare., (© 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.)

Introduction: Twenty years ago, the first study was conducted to access adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their relation to outcomes in adulthood. The effects of exposure to childhood trauma can also be transmitted to other generations. There are some studies that suggest the hypothesis that intergenerational transmission may begin during intrauterine life through the change in placental-fetal physiology due to maternal exposure to adverse events in childhood. Those exposures can lead to a variety of conditions such as altered brain architecture, increase in placental corticotrophin hormone (pCRH) at the end of gestation, or emotional and behavioral changes during childhood and adolescence. The systematic review, therefore, is established to determine if there is a reliable association between maternal ACEs in childhood and altered child development., Method: We will conduct a systematic review according to the guidelines of the meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology (MOOSE) and with the preferred reporting items for systematic review with a focus on health equity (PRISMA-E). A comprehensive search strategy will be conducted in the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, SCOPUS, Lilacs, and SciELO. Following a 2-step screening process, data including the full reference, objectives, target population, description of the exposure (ACEs), outcome measures, study design, length of follow-up period, and the study results will be extracted, synthesized, and reported. Risk of bias and quality of the studies will also be assessed., Dissemination and Ethics: The results of this review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication. Because all of the data used in this systematic review has been published, this review does not require ethical approval., Discussion: This systematic review of the last 20 years will summarize and present the evidence for the relationship between maternal ACEs and the development of her child., Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO #CRD42018111456.

The scope of this article is to describe the food consumption and eating behavior of quilombola and non-quilombola adolescents from the rural area of Southwest Bahia. A cross-sectional study with 390 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years was conducted in 2015, using an adapted PeNSE and PNS questionnaire. Food consumption was assessed by the frequency of healthy and unhealthy food markers in the previous 7 days. Eating breakfast was used as a marker of healthy eating behavior and having meals while watching TV as being unhealthy. Frequency distribution was carried out and the differences between quilombola and non-quilombola groups were assessed using the chi-square test. The prevalence ratio (PR) estimated the association of food consumption and eating behavior and the variables of interest. Low fruit consumption (30.8%), vegetables (44.3%) and milk (24.4%) was observed. Comparison between the groups revealed lower consumption of vegetables (PR = 0.73), fruit (PR = 0.67) and milk (PR = 0.68) among quilombola than among non-quilombola adolescents. Public policies targeted at nutritional assistance specific to rural adolescents are recommended, since bad eating habits can prevail throughout life and lead to poor health conditions.

Objective: To describe the sexual behavior and to identify associated factors in adolescents from rural communities in Bahia, Brazil., Methods: This is a cross-sectional, population-based, and household-based study, carried out in 2015 with adolescents aged 10 to 19 years. We described the variables of sexual intercourse in life and in the last 12 months, age at first intercourse, condom use and number of partners, guidance on pregnancy, AIDS, or other sexually transmitted infections, and guidance on how to get condoms. The analysis was performed for the total sample and for the quilombola and nonquilombola strata. We used Poisson regression, with robust variance, to estimate the prevalence ratios for sexual intercourse in relation to the explanatory variables., Results: A total of 390 adolescents were interviewed, of them 42.8% were quilombolas, 51.3% females, and the median age was 14.8 years. Of these adolescents, 26.4% reported sexual intercourse (28.1% quilombolas and 25.1% non-quilombolas), and the median age of the first relation was 15 years; 77.7% of them mentioned condom use in the last intercourse and more than half received guidance on pregnancy, AIDS, or other sexually transmitted infections and received no guidance on how to get free condoms. Age (PR = 1.42) and alcohol use experimentation (PR = 2.41) were positively associated with sexual intercourse after adjustment. In the quilombola stratum, age (RP = 1.37), having three or more close friends (PR = 1.37), and experimentation with alcohol (PR = 2.60) were associated. In the non-quilombola stratum, age (PR = 1.43), black persons (PR = 2.06), and alcohol use experimentation (PR = 2.68) were associated., Conclusions: Lack of information and exposure to behaviors such as alcohol use experimentation are conditions that need to be addressed in health promotion strategies and in strategies for the prevention of sexual health problems in rural adolescents. Intersectoral partnerships between education and health also need to be strengthened to promote the autonomous and safe exercise of sexuality in this population.