The 1982 Birth Cohort participants and their families had a very important role in the history building of the health science in Brazil and worldwide. Through those people willingness, the scientific community obtained information about the 1982 neonates that official organizations did not know about. An example is the number of births in 1982, since the Health Department of Pelotas had registered less 562 births than the amount identified by the Center of Epidemiological Research (CPE). The numbers relating to child mortality were also very different.

CPE is very grateful to the collaboration of all mothers who a little after their childbirth accepted to answer a lot of questions to the researchers, and allowed that their newborns were tested for measuring and weight analyses.

More than the collaboration that those mothers gave to the researchers at the hospital, they also gave their addresses and, with no immediate benefit, they have received the researchers a lot of times during many years in order that the researchers could follow their children’s development.

All the available time provided by the mothers and by the own participants, and all the work that the researchers had to find those almost six thousand families along 30 years, are nowadays worth for the scientific knowledge that is available for the population.

Check out some data from the 1982 Birth Cohort

Birth period and the first year of life period

Births:

•  5.914 births of alive babies at Pelotas' hospitals.
  
  
• 51 % of male neonates.
• 49 % of female neonates.

Birth weight:

• Of the 5.914 births, 534 were low birth weight babies. Low birth weight babies (less than 5,5 pounds at birth) have more chances of getting sick or dying than babies with an adequate birth weight.

Smoking mothers:

• 33% of all mothers smoked during their pregnancies. Smoking mothers’ children have more chances of having low birth weight.

Smoking:

• 33% of all mothers smoked during their pregnancies. Smoking mothers’ neonates showed a low birth weight index two times higher than non-smoking mothers’ neonates. It is known that low birth weight is one of the main death causes of neonates.

Breastfeeding:

• 70% of all six-month babies weren’t breastfed. The World Health Organization recommends that all babies are breastfed until they are, at least, 6 months old. The breastfeeding may continue until they are 2 years old.

Data about Mortality

Mortality:

• From all the 5.914 participants, 288 have died until 2006.
• 215 deaths occurred during their first year of life.
• 215 deaths occurred during their first year of life. It was observed that the greatest risk of death occurs until the child is a year old, and owing to that, the attention to his/her health during this period must be reinforced.

Child Mortality:

• Child mortality was three times bigger among the poorer than among the richer participants.

Main causes of death:

• During childhood: diarrhea and respiratory diseases (pneumonia). From 14 years old on: accidents and other external causes.

Adulthood

Schooling:

• 75% (3.223) of all participants finished Elementary School and Junior High School. Then, 79% (2.554) of those 3.223 participants finished High School, and 21% of the 2.554 High School graduates entered a University.

Job

• 65% of all participants had a job when they were 23 years old, and most of them were men.

Salary

• Among the richer participants: men receive 25% more than women.
• Among the poorer participants: men receive 36% more than women.
• In all classes of society, men receive higher salaries than women.

Sexuality:

• Premature sexual initiation (before 14 years old) was more frequent among men.
• Young participants who had little schooling and have lower incomes started having sex earlier.

Children:

• When the participants were at the age of 23, 32% of them already had children.
• 20% of the participants became parents before they were 20 years old.

Body weight evaluation:

• Overweight is more frequent among men of upper class of society and women of lower class of society.

Smoking

• On average, the young participants started to smoke at the age of 15;
• 28% of the men and 24% of the women were smokers at the age of 23.

Inheritance of smoking:

• Smoking mothers’ children have more chances of also becoming smokers.
• Of the young participants whose mothers weren’t smokers, 25% of the men and 20% of the women became smokers.
• Of the young participants whose mothers were smokers, 34% of the men and 34% of the women became smokers.