Have countries offered the best data to the Pan American Health Organization? Evidence of potential inconsistencies found in a study on alcohol policies in Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to verify the agreement between the alcohol policies score estimated from documental analysis of Brazilian federal regulatory documents (RD), with primary data collection, and the results previously presented by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in its Alcohol Policy Scoring (APS) report. STUDY DESIGN: Document identification and content analysis. METHODS: Documental research was carried out in two phases: a document identification and content analysis. In the first phase, we carried out the search, identification, and systematization of laws, decrees, and federal ordinances in Brazil, with primary data collection. The second phase consisted of three steps: 1) an RD content analysis and classification into the 10 PAHO/World Health Organization (WHO) policy domains; 2) a score estimation of alcohol policies, based on the APS instrument attached to their report; and 3) comparison of the results for Brazil presented at the APS report and the one estimated by the researchers. RESULTS: The study showed divergences between the results for APS published by PAHO about Brazil and the one achieved with primary data collection. 1146 federal promulgated RD were identified, of which 21 were eligible for content analysis. Only the domains "Community and workplace action" (Domain 3) and "Reducing the public health impact of illicit and informally produced alcohol" (Domain 9) had convergent scores. On the other domains, usually the APS score estimated by PAHO differs from the one estimated with the primary data collection. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that Brazil is not providing the best data for PAHO/WHO estimate its APS report, leading to the dissemination of imprecise results worldwide.

Sociodemographic factors associated with smoking risk perception in adolescents in São Paulo, Brazil

Objective: We examined the sociodemographic factors associated with smoking risk perceptions (SRP) in youth living in two very different neighborhoods in the city of São Paulo, Brazil: a middle-class central area (Vila Mariana) and a poor outer-city area (Capão Redondo). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 180 public school-attending youth (all aged 12 years) and their parents. SRP was evaluated through self-reports. Weighted multinomial logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with SRP. Results: Smoking was considered a high-risk behavior by 70.9% of adolescents. There were significant differences in SRP associated with socioeconomic status (SES) and maternal smoking status. Having a non-smoking mother was positively associated with perceiving smoking as having low to moderate risk versus no risk (OR=3.91 [95%CI 1.27-12.02]). Attending school in Capão Redondo was associated with perceiving smoking as having high risk compared to no risk (OR=3.00 [95%CI 1.11-8.12]), and low SES was negatively associated with perceiving at least some risk in smoking versus perceiving no risk in this behavior. Conclusions: Youth whose mothers smoke appear to have lower SRP than those whose mothers do not smoke. Living in a poor outer-city area was associated with higher SRP.

Sociodemographic factors associated with smoking risk perception in adolescents in São Paulo, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the sociodemographic factors associated with smoking risk perceptions (SRP) in youth living in two very different neighborhoods in the city of São Paulo, Brazil: a middle-class central area (Vila Mariana) and a poor outer-city area (Capão Redondo). METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 180 public school-attending youth (all aged 12 years) and their parents. SRP was evaluated through self-reports. Weighted multinomial logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with SRP. RESULTS: Smoking was considered a high-risk behavior by 70.9% of adolescents. There were significant differences in SRP associated with socioeconomic status (SES) and maternal smoking status. Having a non-smoking mother was positively associated with perceiving smoking as having low to moderate risk versus no risk (OR=3.91 [95%CI 1.27-12.02]). Attending school in Capão Redondo was associated with perceiving smoking as having high risk compared to no risk (OR=3.00 [95%CI 1.11-8.12]), and low SES was negatively associated with perceiving at least some risk in smoking versus perceiving no risk in this behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Youth whose mothers smoke appear to have lower SRP than those whose mothers do not smoke. Living in a poor outer-city area was associated with higher SRP.