OBJECTIVE Identifying, through a systematic literature review, evidence of a possible association between obesity and dental caries. METHODS A search of articles published between 2005 and January 2012 was performed in the Medline/PubMed, LILACS and Web of Science databases. The quality of scientific evidence of the selected articles was assessed by the items proposed for observational studies in the Downs & Black instrument. RESULTS Initially, 537 references were found; after checking the titles and abstracts by two independent researchers, twenty-eight […]

OBJECTIVE: To analyze food consumption and dietary factors involved in the Nikkei population’s health and disease processes METHODS: A systematic review of observational studies that described Nikkeis’ food intake was carried out in electronic databases Lilacs, SciELO and PubMed/Medline databases, from 1997 to 2012. Initially, 137 titles and abstracts were analyzed, excluding intervention studies, those which only presented metabolite and vitamin plasma levels and those which did not meet the objective of this study. Of these, 38 studies were selected […]

Reporting of observational studies is often inadequate, hampering the assessment of their strengths and weaknesses and, consequently, the generalization of study results. The initiative named Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) developed a checklist of 22 items, the STROBE Statement, with recommendations about what should be included in a more accurate and complete description of observational studies. Between June and December 2008, a group of Brazilian researchers was dedicated to the translation and adaptation of the STROBE […]

OBJECTIVE: Physical activity during pregnancy is a poorly investigated subject on population level. The study aimed to describe duration, type and frequency of leisure-time physical activity during pregnancy, and to explore its associated factors. METHODS: A population-based study was carried out during 2004 in Southern Brazil. A total of 4,471 mothers were interviewed soon after delivery. Physical activity was measured using a questionnaire, developed for the study. Results were obtained by Poisson regression. RESULTS: In the sample, 14.8% of women […]

In studies assessing the effects of a given exposure variable and a specific outcome of interest, confusion may arise from the mistaken impression that the exposure variable is producing the outcome of interest, when in fact the observed effect is due to an existing confounder. However, quantitative techniques are rarely used to determine the potential influence of unmeasured confounders. Sensitivity analysis is a statistical technique that allows to quantitatively measuring the impact of an unmeasured confounding variable on the association […]