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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
Published on: July 29, 2020
Prevalence of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders in southeast Brazil
Bacy Fleitlich-Bilyk1, Robert Goodman
1Department of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Objective:
To describe the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders and the pattern of comorbidity in a population-based sample of 7- to 14-year-old Brazilian schoolchildren.
Method:
Random sampling of schools (stratified into private, public rural, and public urban) was followed by random sampling of pupils from school lists. In 2000-2001, a total of 1,251 children were assessed for DSM-IV diagnoses using the Development and Well-Being Assessment, a structured multiinformant assessment supplemented by verbatim reports reviewed by clinicians.
Results:
The response rate was 83%. The overall prevalence of DSM-IV disorders was 12.7% (95% confidence interval = 9.8%-15.5%), with 3.5% of children being assigned as not otherwise specified rather than operationalized diagnoses. The overall prevalence of psychiatric disorder was significantly higher than in a British study with the same measures and diagnostic procedures (12.7% versus 9.7%, p =.02).
Conclusions:
Approximately one in eight schoolchildren in the study area in the southeast of Brazil have psychiatric disorders involving a level of distress or social impairment likely to warrant treatment. The gulf between need and provision is currently vast.
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