Objective: To describe and compare measures of maternal depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a Brazilian birth cohort. Methods: All hospital births occurring in the municipality of Rio Grande (southern Brazil) during 2019 were identified. Mothers were invited to complete a standardized questionnaire on sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. Between May and July 2020, we tried to contact all cohort mothers of singletons, living in urban areas, to answer a standardized web-based questionnaire. They completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) in both follow-ups, and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) in the online follow-up. Results: We located 1,136 eligible mothers (n=2,051). Of those, 40.5% had moderate to severe stress due to the current pandemic, 29.3% had depression, and 25.9% had GAD. Mothers reporting loss of income during the pandemic (57.2%) had the highest proportions of mental health problems. Compared to baseline, the prevalence of depression increased 5.7 fold and that of anxiety increased 2.4-fold during the pandemic (both p < 0.001). Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of personal distress due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and a clear rise in both maternal depression and anxiety.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the mediating effect of violence by a family member or acquaintance on biological sex, depression and suicidal ideation. Methods: We used data from the 2013 Brazilian National Health Survey, a cross-sectional nationwide survey. Major depressive episode and suicidal ideation were evaluated with the Patient Health Questionnaire. Violence victimization and other sociodemographic variables were self-reported. We used logistic regression to estimate the OR, 95%CI and G-computation to calculate the natural direct and indirect effects. Results: A total of 60,202 individuals were evaluated. Women had higher prevalences of major depressive episode (OR = 2.36; 95%CI 2.03-2.74), suicidal ideation (OR = 2.02; 95%CI 1.73-2.36) and violence victimization (OR = 1.73; 95%CI 1.45-2.06). The mediation analysis showed that 10.6% of the association between sex and major depressive episode and 8.0% of the association between sex and suicidal ideation is explained by violence. Conclusions: Women in Brazil have an increased risk of major depressive episode and suicidal ideation, and this association is mediated, in part, by the fact that they suffer more violence from family members or acquaintances.

Objective: To evaluate the association between social and health contextual variables, and between major depressive episodes (MDE) and suicidal thoughts in Brazilian adults. Methods: This population-based cross-sectional study used data from the 2013 National Health Survey (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde). The Patient Health Questionnaire was used to evaluate the presence of MDE and suicidal thoughts. We used number of Family Health Strategy teams (FHS) per 20,000 state population, number of Psychosocial Care Centers (Centros de Atenção Psicossocial [CAPS]) per 1,000 state population, gross domestic product (GDP), and Gini index for each Brazilian state as contextual variables. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to calculate OR and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: Prevalence of MDE and suicidal thoughts was 4.1% (95%CI 3.8-4.4) and 3.8% (95%CI 3.5-4.1), respectively. Multilevel regression models showed an ICC of 1.1% for MDE (95%CI 0.5-2.3) and 1.3% for suicidal thoughts (95%CI 0.6-2.6). Neither GDP, Gini, FHS, or CAPS showed evidence of association with the outcomes. Conclusions: In general, contextual variables, within each Brazilian state, do not seem to affect the prevalence of MDE and suicidal thoughts.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of depression and sociodemographic, behavioral, and health-related risk factors therefor in a southern Brazilian city. Methods: Population-based, cross-sectional study of adults from Rio Grande, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Individuals (n=1,295) were selected using a multistage sampling procedure. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to screen for major depressive episodes (MDEs). We used a conceptual causal framework to organize and assess risk factors for MDE and calculated prevalence ratios (PR) using regression models. Results: The prevalence of MDE was 8.4% (95%CI 6.0-10.7) for men and 13.4% (95%CI 11.0-15.8) for women. For men, physical inactivity (PR 2.34, 95%CI 1.09-5.00) and perceived stress (PR 20.35, 95%CI 5.92-69.96) were associated with MDE. In women, MDE prevalence was higher among those in the first tertile of economic index (PR 2.61, 95%CI 1.53-4.45), with 0-8 years of schooling (PR 2.25, 95%CI 1.24-4.11), alcohol users (PR 1.91, 95%CI 1.21-3.02), those physically inactive (PR 2.49, 95%CI 1.22-5.09), with the highest perceived stress (PR 9.17, 95%CI 3.47-24.23), with another mental disorder (PR 1.85, 95%CI 1.32-2.59), and with more noncommunicable diseases (PR 1.85, 95%CI 1.06-3.22). Conclusion: Women had a higher prevalence of depression, and socioeconomic disadvantages were important for the occurrence of MDE; however, for men, only physical inactivity and stress were important predictors, suggesting possible different causal pathways for each sex.