Joseph Murray

Universidade Federal de Pelotas | UFPEL · Center for Epidemiological Research

Background Maltreatment in childhood may leave people vulnerable to further experiences of violence and more severe effects of stress later in life. Longitudinal studies of risk for violent victimisation after maltreatment are lacking in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this study was to quantify the risk for violent victimization...

RESUMO OBJETIVO: Verificar se a suplementação de ácido fólico durante a gestação está associada com a ocorrência de sintomas depressivos maternos aos três meses pós-parto, na Coorte de Nascimentos de Pelotas de 2015. MÉTODOS: Este estudo incluiu 4.046 mulheres, que foram classificadas em três grupos: sem suplementação de ácido fólico na gestação; u...

OBJECTIVE To verify whether folic acid supplementation during pregnancy is associated with the occurrence of maternal depressive symptoms at three months postpartum, in the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort. METHODS This study included 4,046 women, who were classified into three groups: did not use folic acid supplementation during pregnancy; used during...

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is highly prevalent in low-income and middle-income countries and has been a major obstacle towards reaching global health targets for women and children. We aimed to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between IPV victimisation and maternal parenting practices of young children in...

Abstract Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between screen time from ages 2 to 4 years and child neurodevelopment at age 4. Methods: The participants were from the 2004 (N = 3787) and 2015 (N = 3604) Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort studies. Childhood neurodevelopment was assessed at age 4 using the Battelle Developm...

Background: The association of physical activity through early childhood on children's chronic stress still is unclear. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to test the association of physical activity through early childhood (1-4 y) with chronic stress, measured by hair cortisol at age 4. Methods: Longitudinal study including children fro...

Objective: There is a growing interest in examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent socioemotional development. This study aimed to examine changes in adolescent emotion regulation, self-esteem, and locus of control from before to during the pandemic in a Brazilian birth cohort, and to investigate the variables associated with c...

Observational studies frequently report phenotypic associations between low resting heart rate (RHR) and higher levels of antisocial behaviour (ASB), although it remains unclear whether this relationship reflects causality. To triangulate evidence, we conducted two-sample univariable Mendelian randomisation (MR), multivariable MR and linkage disequ...

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the following risk behaviors: experimentation with cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, alcohol, substances, delinquent behavior, and sex at age 15, stratified by sex and socioeconomic position. We also investigated the prevalence of cigarette and alcohol experimentation at...

Conduct problems are associated with an increased risk of a wide range of physical, mental, and social problems. However, there is still uncertainty about how early risk factors differentiate different developmental patterns of conduct problems and whether findings replicate across diverse social contexts. We aimed to identify developmental traject...

Aims: Previous epidemiological evidence identified a concerning increase in behavioural problems among young children from 1997 to 2008 in Brazil. However, it is unclear whether behavioural problems have continued to increase, if secular changes vary between sociodemographic groups and what might explain changes over time. We aimed to monitor chan...

Introduction: Despite promising reductions in mortality from infectious diseases, premature death is a still major public health problem in Brazil. However, little is known about which diseases and injury mechanisms are the main causes of premature death. This paper aimed to detail trends in leading causes of death among children and adolescents i...

Background: City-led interventions are increasingly advocated to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goal to reduce violence for all. We used a new quantitative evaluation method to examine whether a flagship programme, called the "Pelotas Pact for Peace" (the Pacto), has been effective in reducing violence and crime in the city of Pelotas, B...

Objective Few large-scale studies have provided population-based estimates of hair cortisol levels and its determinants. Hair cortisol and potential determinants were measured in children and their mothers in a population-based sample in a Brazilian city with large variations in socioeconomic conditions. Methods We used data from the 4-year follow...

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the following risk behaviors: cigarette, electronic cigarette, alcohol, substance and sexual experimentation and delinquent behavior at age 15, stratified by sex and socioeconomic position. We also investigated the prevalence of cigarette and alcohol experimentation at age 1...

Unlabelled: Poor school performance may increase the risk of crime and violence via effects on self-esteem, risky behaviours, peer networks, and perceived stakes in society. Despite very high rates of violence in Latin America, no longitudinal research has addressed this issue in the region. Two aspects of educational performance (grade repetition...

Background Childhood trauma is a proposed transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology, but epidemiological evidence from low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) is scarce. We investigated associations between trauma and child psychiatric disorders in a birth cohort in Brazil. Methods The 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort is an ongoing, populati...

Background: Preventing interpersonal violence requires understanding the moral development and determinants of child aggression. Communication about moral values and concerns by parents is theoretically important in this process. We aimed to develop a coding system to measure mothers’ communication about morality with young children and test its ps...

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major stress for families and children, particularly in the context of prolonged school closures. Few longitudinal studies are available on young children’s mental health, including data both before and during the pandemic. This study examined experiences that might increase risk for mental health problems...

Background Environmental exposures in early life explain variability in many physiological and behavioural traits in adulthood. Recently, we showed that exposure to a composite marker of low maternal capital explained the clustering of adverse behavioural and physical traits in adult daughters in a Brazilian birth cohort. These associations were st...

In high-income countries, links between harsh and abusive parenting and child conduct and emotional problems are well-documented. However, less is known about these relationships in low- and middle-income countries, where harsh parenting may be more widely accepted and higher rates of conduct or emotional problems may exist which could influence th...

This study aimed to examine the impact of maternal depressive symptoms trajectories on 15-year-old adolescents’ self-esteem and emotion regulation and test the mediating role of child maltreatment in this association. The 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort is an ongoing cohort study originally comprised of 4231 live births in a southern Brazilian city. We e...

Robbery is one of the most common urban crimes, but little is known about its relationship with mental disorders in young adults. This study aimed to assess the relationship between robbery victimization and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and comorbidity between MDD and GAD at 30 years of age. A birth cohort stu...

Background Inflammation-related proteins constitute a promising avenue in studying biological correlates of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, MDD is a heterogeneous condition – a crucial aspect to be considered in association studies. We examined whether inflammatory proteins are associated with categorical diagnosis, a dimensional total su...

The survival and nutrition of children and, to a lesser extent, adolescents have improved substantially in the past two decades. Improvements have been linked to the delivery of effective biomedical, behavioural, and environmental interventions; however, large disparities exist between and within countries. Using data from 95 national surveys in lo...

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate longitudinal associations between physical activity and early childhood neurodevelopment. Methods: Data from 1673 children from the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort study were analyzed. Physical activity was measured using accelerometers on the wrist at ages 1, 2, and 4 years. Neurodevelopme...

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise during pregnancy on early childhood neurodevelopment (cognitive, motor, and language domains). Methods: A randomized controlled trial nested into the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort was conducted. Healthy pregnant women were enrolled between 16 and 20 weeks of gestati...

Background A large-scale parenting programme with weekly home visits (Primeira Infância Melhor (PIM)) has been implemented in the south of Brazil for nearly two decades, but lacks evaluation of its effects on early childhood development (ECD). This quasi-experimental study aimed to assess the effects of PIM in real-life settings within a population...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been found to predict many negative life outcomes. However, very little evidence exists on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Child Maltreatment (CM). We investigated the impact of maternal ACEs on IPV and CM in three different: cumulative risk, individual adversities and particular groupings of ACEs. The...

Background : Approximately 40% of women experience their first depressive episode during the postpartum period. In Brazil, several maternal health outcomes are affected by profound social inequalities. Investigating inequalities in maternal depressive symptomatology in two different regions of the country in the first 24 months after childbirth may...

Neighbourhood collective efficacy has been proposed as a protective factor against family violence and youth antisocial behaviour. However, little is known about its impact on parent and child behaviour in non-Western countries. Using data from two population-based prospective cohorts from South Korea, including primary school students aged 10-12 y...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s00038-020-01505-0.].

Resumo O objetivo deste estudo foi caracterizar a prevalência de comportamentos violentos como agressão, roubo e porte de arma ou faca, segundovariáveis sociodemográficase de estilo de vida como inatividade física, uso de drogas ilícitas, uso prejudicial de álcool, tabagismo e consumo alimentar não saudável em estudantes universitários. Estudo tran...

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between child care attendance since birth and development in two-years-old Brazilian children. METHODS:The study used longitudinal data from the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort. Te childhood development (cognitive, fine and gross motor skills, and language) at two-years-old children was assessed using IN...

Background : We aimed to examine the occurrence of major depressive disorder (MDD) in a population-based youth sample, assessing both categorical and dimensional presentations of the disorder and its clinical and sociodemographic correlates. Methods : We analyzed cross-sectional data from the latest assessment of the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort (n =...

Experimental studies support the conventional belief that people behave more aggressively whilst under the influence of alcohol. To examine how these experimental findings manifest in real life situations, this study uses a method for estimating evidence for causality with observational data—‘situational decomposition’ to examine the association be...

Objective To examine the association between antenatal and postnatal maternal depression symptoms, and child hospitalization during the first 2 years of life in the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. Study design This is an observational study. Maternal depressive symptoms of 4275 mothers were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale....

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women and child maltreatment (CM) are major public health problems and human rights issues and may have shared causes. However, their overlap is understudied. We investigated the prevalence of IPV and CM, their co-occurrence in households and possible shared risk factors, in the general populatio...

Responsive caregiving is the dimension of parenting most consistently related to later child functioning in both developing and developed countries. There is a growing need for efficient, psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate measurement of this construct. This study describes the cross-cultural validation in Brazil of the Responsive In...

Background and aims: Longitudinal cohort studies examining different generations can explain how health problems can be transmitted through genetic and environmental mechanisms and their effects on the health of offspring. This study aimed to present the design and to describe the characteristics of the baseline sample of a second generation cohor...

Parent training programmes have significant potential to improve the quality of children's early environments and thereby their development and life-course outcomes. The aim of this study was to identify and explain the extent to which parents engaged in two group-based training programmes, offered to high-risk families enrolled in a randomized con...

Objectives To assess time trends in unplanned pregnancy, stratified by sociodemographic status, reproductive history, and inequalities in family income and women’s skin color, in Pelotas, Brazil.Methods Data from mothers of participants of the 1993 (N = 5264), 2004 (N = 4243), and 2015 (N = 4268) Pelotas birth cohorts were analyzed. Unplanned pregn...

Background Studies relating childhood cognitive development to poor linear growth seldom take adequate account of social conditions related to both, leading to a focus on nutrition interventions. We aimed to assess the roles of both biological and social conditions in determining early childhood cognition, mediated by birthweight and early linear g...

Background: Nurturing care, in which children are raised in engaging and safe environments, may reduce child stress and shape hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. Hence, parent-training programs may impact child cortisol levels, as well as behavioral, social and health outcomes. We conducted a systematic review of the impact of parent-...

Background Studies on mental disorders prevalence and comorbidity, including suicidality, are scarce in low and middle-income settings. We aimed to describe the pattern of comorbidity between mental disorders and their association with suicidality. Methods In 1982, all hospital deliveries in Pelotas (Southern Brazil) were identified (n = 5914) and...

This study analyzed the association between the inversion of traditional gender roles and exclusive psychological and physical/sexual intimate partner violence, in a cross-sectional study of Brazilian pregnant women, identified through prenatal services in the municipalities of São Luís, Maranhão State (n = 992) and Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State...

Background: Both 'early-onset persistent' and 'adolescent-onset' conduct problems (CPs) are associated with alcohol-related problems in emerging adulthood. The escalation of early CPs into criminal behaviour and heavy alcohol consumption prior to emerging adulthood are both likely to be important pathways. Methods: Data were analysed from 3,038...

Objective To assess the prevalence, mortality and risk factors associated with the birth of very low birth weight preterm infants over a period of 33 years. Methods Four cross‐sectional studies were analyzed, using data from perinatal interviews of birth cohorts in the city of Pelotas collected in 1982, 1993, 2004, and 2015. Based on perinatal que...

Inadequate pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain (GWG) have been associated with sub-optimal child development. We used data from the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort Study. Maternal anthropometry was extracted from antenatal/hospital records. BMI (kg/m²) and GWG (kg) adequacy were classified according to WHO and IOM, respectively. Develo...

Inadequate pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain (GWG) have been associated with sub-optimal child development. We used data from the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort Study. Maternal anthropometry was extracted from antenatal/hospital records. BMI (kg/m2) and GWG (kg) adequacy were classified according to WHO and IOM, respectively. Develo...

Background: The first years of life are the most important for human development, which is influenced by diverse factors, such as childcare attendance. Yet, little is known about the longitudinal influence of childcare in diverse domains of development. The aim of the present study was to assess the development and to measure potential influences o...

Abstract Several conditions related to health and development in adolescence can increase the risk that a young person will be exposed to the criminal justice system. Such determinants include neurodevelopmental disability, poor mental health, trauma, and experiences of maltreatment. Furthermore, the risk of exposure to the criminal justice system...

Purpose Examine associations between childhood behavioural problems with criminal behaviour, emotional disorders, substance use and unemployment in early adulthood in two birth cohorts from a middle- and high-income country. Methods Data were utilised from large, prospective birth cohorts in Brazil (1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort; N = 3939) and the UK...

In recent years, the increasing availability of longitudinal datasets has made it possible to investigate the consequences of parental imprisonment for children living in different countries. In this chapter, we compare international findings on three child outcomes hypothesized to be affected by parental imprisonment: offending, substance use, and...

The highest rates of serious interpersonal violence occur in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) especially in Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub–Saharan Africa. However, previous reviews of risk factors for youth violence focused almost entirely on studies from high-income countries (HICs). Rigorous synthesis of evidence is needed for LMICs...

Background: Some individuals appear prone to multiple adverse outcomes, including poor health, school dropout, risky behavior and early reproduction. This clustering remains poorly understood. Drawing on evolutionary life history theory, we hypothesized that maternal investment in early life would predict the developmental trajectory and adult phen...

Background Children in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at high risk for exposure to violence and later violent behaviour. The World Health Organization has declared an urgent need for the evaluation and implementation of low-cost parenting interventions in LMICs to prevent violence. Two areas of significant early risk are harsh pa...

Background Hospital admissions in infancy are declining in several countries. We describe admissions to neonatal intensive care units (NICU) and other hospitalizations over a 33-year period in the Brazilian city of Pelotas. Methods We analysed data from four population-based birth cohorts launched in 1982, 1993, 2004 and 2015, each including all ho...

Background Hospital admissions in infancy are declining in several countries. We describe admissions to neonatal intensive care units (NICU) and other hospitalizations over a 33-year period in the Brazilian city of Pelotas. Methods We analysed data from four population-based birth cohorts launched in 1982, 1993, 2004 and 2015, each including all h...

Background Brazil has made substantial improvements in the duration of breastfeeding. We use data from four population-based cohorts to examine how trends and inequalities in breastfeeding indicators changed over time in a Brazilian city. Methods Data from four birth cohorts, each including all births in a calendar year (1982, 1993, 2004 and 2015)...

Background Levels of child undernutrition have declined in many middle-income countries, whereas overweight and obesity have increased. We describe time trends in nutritional indicators at age 1 year in the 1982, 1993, 2004 and 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohorts. Methods Each study included all children born in the urban area of the city, with ove...

Background Infant-mortality rates have been declining in many low- and middle-income countries, including Brazil. Information on causes of death and on socio-economic inequalities is scarce. Methods Four birth cohorts were carried out in the city of Pelotas in 1982, 1993, 2004 and 2015, each including all hospital births in the calendar year. Surve...

Background Antenatal care and correctly indicated caesarean section can positively impact on health outcomes of the mother and newborn. Our objective was to describe how coverage and inequalities for these interventions changed from 1982 to 2015 in Pelotas, Brazil. Methods Using perinatal data from the 1982, 1993, 2004 and 2015 Pelotas birth cohort...

Background Brazil experienced important progress in maternal and child health in recent decades. We aimed at describing secular trends as well as s