Payesh
Year:2013 | Volume:12 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

Objective(s): Studies have shown that environment has a meaningful effect on quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes. One of the important environmental factors is place of living. This study conducted to estimates health related quality of life of diabetic patients based on their place of living.Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis. We used data from a national cross sectional study conducted in 2006 using random cluster sampling. Data were collected by face to face interviews using a structured questionnaire. We analyzed s data on health related quality of life (HRQoL) by gender and patient’s residency. Mean values of HRQoL were calculated for each province and then compared with other provinces by statistical tests including ANOVA and distance based classifying methods.Results: Comparison of mean values showed that HRQoL were highest in the Qom, Semnan and Gilan, and were lowest in Kerman, Yazd and Ardabil, respectively. HRQoL was significantly differed between provinces at 0.05 levels.Conclusion: The findings confirm the meaningful differences in HRQoL among diabetic patients living in different provinces. It remains to investigate about such observations. This might help to implement a better care for this population living in different places.

Objective(s): To assess nutritional status in an elderly population living in nursing homes.Method: This was a cross- sectional study of 199 elderly people 60 years old or above living in nursing homes in Arak, Iran. Data on nutrition was collected using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA).Results: The findings showed that 19.6% of elderly were suffering from malnutrition, 53.3% were at risk of malnutrition, and in 27.1% nutritional status was satisfactory. Of those suffering from malnutrition 77.2% reported 1 to 3 chronic diseases or physical impairments. There were significant associations between nutrition and some health conditions (P<0.001).Conclusion: The findings suggest that elderly people living in nursing home should be cared for their nutritional status.

Objective(s): The role of non-nutritive sucking during gavage as a nutritional intervention is well established in feeding performance and feeding skills in preterm infants. However, conflicting results on the impact of this intervention on weight gain has been reported in the infants.Method: In a double blind clinical trial, 64 preterm infants, who hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), were randomized into intervention or control group (32 infants in each group). Mothers in experimental group provided oral stimulation by pacifier during the first ten minutes of tube feeding, three times a day. Infants in control group received standard routine care. To eliminate the potentially confounding effect of maternal presence, mothers in control group were present during the gavage feeding. Infant weight without clothing was measured daily by a trained person before the morning feeding in two groups and then weigh gain were compared.Results: Despite the same caloric intake by two groups, infants in pacifier sucking group had greater daily weight gain (10.9 vs. 3.2 g, P=0.01).Conclusion: With regards to positive effect of pacifier sucking, the application of this intervention is recommended for neonates admitted to NICU.

Objective(s): To estimate the rate of safety belt use and its related factors among the car drivers of Kerman, Iran.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in Kerman, Iran. Data were collected by observation and were recorded by two researchers in terms of safety belt use.Results: In all 10, 309 drivers were screened. Of these, 5483 derivers (53.19%) used their safety belt. Safety belts were significantly used by women more than men (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between different age groups (p=0.138). The use of safety belts was significantly higher in the city center (P<0.001) and higher in the morning hours compared to the afternoon (P<0.001).Conclusion: Although safety belt use is compulsory by law, the rate of safety belt use is still low in Kerman, Iran. In order to increase the rate of safety belt use tougher regulations and intense public education is suggested.

Objective(s): Health-promoting behaviors of individuals are important determinants of health status. The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Iranian version of health-promoting lifestyle profile II (HPLP II) among adolescent girls.Methods: Pender’s Health Promotion Model was the theoretical framework for this cross-sectional study of a sample of 500 high school girls (grade9-11), in Kashan, Iran. The HPLP II reliability was estimated using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and test-retest. Concurrent validity was estimated by performing Pearson’s correlation between the HPLP II, and the 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), perceived self-efficacy. In addition confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed in order to evaluate construct validity. The data were analyzed using SPSS v.18 and LISREL8.8 programs.Results: The Cronbach’s a coefficient was 0.86 for the instrument and for subscales ranged from 0.70 to 0.77. The correlation between the HPLP II and the SF-12 and perceived self-efficacy were significant as expected. The confirmatory factor analysis yielded a good estimate of fit (c2=6.34, df=2, P=0.420, NFI=0.99, CFI=0.99, RMSEA=0.066).Conclusion: The psychometric properties of Iranian version of HPLP II showed satisfactory results and now it can be used in studies of health promotion among young adolescents.

Objective(s): This study aimed to examine the association between psychological characteristics with impotence and obesity.Methods: For this post-event study, a sample of 90 students was randomly selected from Mohaghegh Ardabili university. Goldberg mental health questionnaire was used to to measure mental health. Also weight and hight were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI). Accordingly individuals were categorized into theree groups: thin, normal and obese. The data were analyzed with discriminate analysis technique to achieve the study objective.Results: The results showed that depression, social dysfunction, and body complain were higher in thin than obese and normal individuals. However, the anxiety was higher in obese than thin and normal individuals.Conclusion: The findings suggest that depression; anxiety, social dysfunction and somatization could predict fatness or thinness.

Objective(s): To assess social relationships status oamong Iranians and find out its association with their health condition.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study of a sample of 27, 883 general population of Iran aged 18 to 65 years. Social relationships were measured using a single item rated on a 5-point Lkert scale. Self-reported health also was measured by a similar question. Logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the data.Results: Most participants indicated that they had good and very good social relationships. Gender, employment status, and income had significant association with social relationships. Negative assessment of health increased the risk of low social relationships up to 6.58 times and similarly negative assessment of very poor or poor social relationships increased the risk of lower health status up to 5.6 to 7.3 times respectively.Conclusion: The findings suggest that social relationships are associated with social factors such as income, gender and employment. Also social relationship has significant effect on public’s health. Perhaps social relationships could be considered as a mediatory factor between social condition and health.

Objective(s): To analyze outpatient flow in a radiology department to estimate outpatients waiting time for radiology services.Methods: This was a cross sectional study with the target population of all patients attending the radiology department of Shahid Hashemi Nejad Hospital in Tehran.Result: In all data for 303 patients were analyzed. The average waiting time for entering plain X-ray room was 10.87 minutes (SD=10.86) and the average waiting time for entering special X-ray room was 62.00 minutes (SD=53.49). The most important factors for waiting time in radiology department were the type of service, and muliple entering. Analyzing the correlation of outpatient waiting time and their entrance showed a positive correlation with waiting time for plain X-ray services and a negative correlation with waiting time for special X-ray services (P=0.001).Conclusion: The findings suggest that assessing wating time might help to schedule outpatient and appointment system more effectively.

Objective(s): The control of feral cat overpopulation is an important problem in many countries. The objectives of present study were to identify experiences of other countries, to identify urban ecosystem on animals (mice and feral cats), to understand the role of cats in environmental pollution and to study people believes about feral cats.Methods: This was a rapid review of the literature and a cross-sectional case study. The target group of the cross-sectional study consisted of the general population aged 18 and over living in Tehran, Iran. The sample was recruited through cluster sampling.Results: The details of review are presented in the article. Overall 9836 individuals (50.1% women and 49.9% men) participated in the study. The mean age of participants was 37.6 years (SD 15.1). The related results of the ecosystem study showed that most people (49%) stated that population of cats have not changed in their residential area. The results of Pearson analysis showed that there were direct and positive correlation between populations of feral cats and population of mice in Tehran. The decline in population of mice was associated with decline of feral cat population and, vice versa (r=0.206) (P<0.001). The results also showed that the number of cats and mice decreased with existing suitable pickup of garbage, adequate street lighting services, existing gardening areas, near markets of fruits and vegetables and in urban areas with no building construction (P<0.001). Furthermore the results showed that the people by own are the most important cause of environmental pollution in the city with spreading garbage (46.5%). Most people (71.3%) believed that the feral cats have “very much” and “much” right to live in their city.Conclusion: The population of feral cats in Tehran is one of the important factors for controlling the mice population. Interventions in environmental conditions of mice population are indirectly effective to control the cats population. Public education of environmental cleanliness and improving quality of urban services has the main influences to minimize the role of feral cats in environmental pollution. It seems that feral cat overpopulation control should focus on followings: (a) in cities like Tehran, the elimination of feral cat colonies is not recommended because of mice overpopulation and the role of feral cats in urban animal ecosystem. The most human and scientific activities in the urban areas witch face to cat overpopulation are Trap- Neuter-Return (TNR) and Trap and Relocate (TR) to low population areas; (b) public education in order to minimize zoonotic disease transmission, (c) pet ownership education to prevent abandonment and importance of early sterilization and keeping cats indoors; (d) improvement the urban services like mice control program; (d) encourage to establish non-governmental groups and organizations, under the supervision of the related governmental agencies for attracting human and financial resources.Overall, one of the most important approaches for improving urban management of animal population is considering city as an ecological system. Therefore, the intervention relating to control of feral cat population should be based on scientific evidence and ethical principles.