Search

Introduction: Obesity is considered a growing public health problem by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and a global epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the prevalence of adult obesity at 31.9% in the U.S. The U.S. is one of the main destinations for Brazilian immigrants in search of better living conditions, and Massachusetts is one of the states with the highest presence of Brazilians. Changes in lifestyle and eating habits are often associated with increases in overweight and obesity in immigrants in the U.S., especially Hispanics, an official classification that does not, however, include Brazilians. The aim of this study is to describe the temporal trend of overweight and obesity in Brazilian immigrants assisted by the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) health care network in Massachusetts. Methods: Ecological time series study of 128,206 records of Brazilians aged between 18 and 60 years based on hospital data from 2009 to 2020. Results: Mean age was 38.9 (sd=10.6) and 61% of the sample were women. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were 38.4% and 25.4%, respectively. Obesity exhibited an increasing trend, while eutrophy and overweight decreased during the study period. Conclusion: As little is known about the health of Brazilian immigrants in the U.S., this study contributes to the literature on the subject. The observed increasing trends agree with the worldwide increase in obesity and indicate the need for future research exploring individual factors associated to immigrant acculturation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the quantity of jobs and nocturnal awakenings of Brazilians living in Massachusetts. Material and Methods: We sampled of 48 documented Brazilians around the age of 45.5 years old. 52.1% of them were women. Data gathering occurred for three weeks, using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Participants also wore wrist actigraph and filled sleep/wake diary for a week. Results: The sleep quality of immigrants with one job (mean=8.58, SD=4.16) is better when compared to immigrants with 2-3 jobs (mean=12.7, SD=3.57) according to the PSQI scores. Immigrants with 2-3 jobs reported dissatisfaction on three components of the scale: sleep duration, sleep efficiency and sleep quality. Discussion: There is a positive relationship between the quantity of jobs and nocturnal awakenings and between nocturnal awakenings and complaints related to sleep apnea among Brazilians in Massachusetts. The assessment of systemic morbidities associated with sleep pattern changes should be considered in future research.