Payesh
Year:2006 | Volume:5 | Issue:1|Papers Count:9

Objective(s): The present research was carried out in order to determine the effects of a designed care on the weight of infants suffering from Pneumonia in Tehran, Iran. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. The sample, included 66 infants aged between 1 to 12 months who suffered from Pneumonia and their mothers selected randomly and were assigned to two groups: experimental and control. Data collection tools included questionnaire, observational -interviewing checklist and Burer MS50 scale. The designed care was taught both theoretically and practically. The strengths and weaknesses of the function of mothers at home were recorded, while the control group had taken only ordinary care from their mothers. Every examining unit was followed up for 3 months after intervention. The data concerning infants weight were gathered in repeated measurements before and after intervention. Results: There was a significant difference between experimental and control groups in infants weight after intervention (P<0.05). Conclusion: The findings indicate that using a designed care has a desirable effect on the weight of infants suffering from pneumonia. Moreover the results indicate that home-training is a good strategy in improving the mothers' caring behaviours.

Objective (s): Estimating the mean number of visits of pregnant women to prenatal centers to use pregnancy cares in Tehran, Iran. Methods: This a descriptive-analytic observational study, considering the number of visits of pregnant women to prenatal centers in Imam Khomaini and Shahid Akbar-abadi hospitals in Tehran, Iran. 200 women visited these two centers during September 2000 for the first time that all were followed up to their delivery and later visits were counted for each woman. Results: Each pregnant woman had 9.7(±3.3) visits in average during their pregnancy until delivery. Of 200 women, only 28.5% had "enough number of visits". Correlation analysis identified that the number of follow up visits was related to age (at first) marriage (r=0.38, P=0.01), age at first delivery (r=0.37, P =0.01), number of previous pregnancies (r=0.32, P=0.01), number of live birth (r=-0.37 P =0.01), number of dead birth (r=-0.22, P=0.01), number of alive children (r=-0.36, P-value=0.01) and time interval from the last delivery (r=-0.24, P-value=0.01). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the number of follow up visits is also related to four factors, education level and job of the pregnant women and her husband. The illiterate women or women with elementary education had in average.7.3 (±1.9) visits while women with high school diploma had 14.6 (±1.6). Employed pregnant women had (mean of) 13.9(±2.6) visits comparing with the housewives that had only 8.7(±2.7).The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that in presence of all variables, the best set of variables which are related to number of pregnant women's follow up visits are, educational level of woman and her husband, age at first marriage, and job of the husband. Conclusion: The middle socio-economic class women do not visit prenatal centers enough to take care of themselves during pregnancy. The best set of variables which are related to number of pregnant women's follow up visits are, educational level of woman and her husband, age at first marriage, and job of the husband.

Objective (s): In order to find out the frequency rates of domestic and wild animal bites as well as the evaluation of the prevalence rates of rabies disease in human population in Kerman Province (South-East of Iran), a retrospective study was designed to analyze data for this project. Methods: Data were collected from March 21st 1993 to March, 21st 2003 in all of the ten cities including the rural areas of the Kerman Province. Results: The mortality of human rabies was 10 persons (8 males and 2 females). Of these half (50%) were bitten by dogs and the others (50%) by foxes. The reported data indicated that animals bit 22860 persons during 11 years. The mean age of the people who were bitten by dogs was 24.80 years (SD= 14.6), while the mean age of the people who were bitten by foxes was 57.25 years (S.D. =1.50). There was a significant difference between the mean ages of these two groups of the people. The most frequency of injured people was reported in the age group of 10-19 years old and the frequency of males (76 %) was more than females (24 %). The most incidences rate of animal bites was reported from Baft region (166 individuals/100000) and the least incidence was from Zarand region (63 cases). About 60% of all persons that were bitten by animals were from rural areas and 40% of them were from urban areas (P<0.05). Among the all people who were bitten by animals, 47% of them were injured through feet, 41% through hands, 3 % heads and faces and 9 % of them through trunks, cervical regions and other limbs of the body. Conclusion: The role of foxes in the epidemiology of rabies in the province of Kerman seems very important. Since most people in this region of Iran did not seem to be aware of the risk of exposure to the viral infection of rabies through animal bites, the public education is imperative as well as vaccination of animals, specially dogs and cats.

Objective (s): To measure quality of life in hemodialysis patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in two centers in Kerman. Quality of life was measured using the Iranian version of the SF-36. Results: In all 100 patients with end stage renal disease receiving hemodialysis were studied. The mean age of patients was 50.91 (SD=14.76) years and the mean time of dialysis for patients was 31.76 (SD=37.33) months. The most cause of renal failure was diabetes mellitus and the most comorbidity was heart disease. In all domains of the SF-36, it was found that patients reported lower scores than healthy individuals. The lowest score was found for General Health. Conclusion: These results show that hemodialysis patients suffer from a poor quality of life and this suggests that these patients need more effective management.

Objective(s): To determine the prevalence of smoking among Guilan medical students and to study the effects of sociodemographic factors on smoking behavior. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed between 590 medical students in Guilan University in 2001. The survey instrument contained a section for socio-demographic information and questions relating to the students' smoking behavior. Current smoker was everyone who used cigarette in the previous 30 days. Data were analyzed with spss10 software. The χ2 test, Mann-Witney test and logistic regression were performed to calculate the relations between independent factors and cigarette smoking. Results: From 590 subjects, 531 (90%) completed the questionnaires. Of these 265 students were male and 255 were female. The mean age was 23.2±4.1 years (range 17 to 38 years). The prevalence of smoking among university students was 16.6% (26% in male and 7.1% in female; P<0.0001).The results of analysis indicated that: being male, living with friends, having friend who smokes, history of interruption in education were independently associated with smoking but having a family member who smokes, marital status, family education, and educational status were not associated with smoking. In logistic regression, the only effective determinants were having smoker friends (Odds ratio=18.5, 95%CI=8.7 to 39.2, P=0.0001). Conclusion: Smoking is one of the most important public health problems among students in Guilan Medical University and preventive program must be started in much earlier period in schools and universities.  

Objective (s): To assess the quality care cervices for 0 to 6 years children in Urban Health Centers of Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2001-2002. Methods: This was a cross -sectional research with aim of determining the quality of 0 to 6 years children care services provided by the personnel of urban health centers, affiliated to University of Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences. In this research 49 personnel of urban health centers of Shemiranat, North and East of District Health Centers affiliated to University of Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences were selected through a multiple stage sampling. Type of services provided for 490 children were observed and recorded. Results: The age of personnel was 32.31±7.9, and 71% were married. The academic degree of 63 % of the personnel was bachelor degree, and 37 % had an associate degree. 82% of personnel were midwifery graduated and 18% family health, and 71% had passed in-service education. The quality of growth assessment services provided, was good by 59 % of staff and 41 % were in medium range. The quality of measuring weight for less than two and 2-4 years children was good by 67% and 85% of the staff respectively. The quality of measuring height was good by 74% of the staff for less than two years children and was 67% in medium range for 2 to 4 years children. The quality of measuring the head was good in the all of the staff (100%) in less than two years children. The quality of parents' growth assessment education in less than two and 2-4 years children was in medium range (59 % and 70 % of the staff). Conclusion: The findings showed poor quality of services provided for this age group.

Objective(s): To develop and validate the Iranian version of the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) for use in health related quality of life assessment in Iran. Methods: A culturally comparable questionnaire was developed and pilot tested. Then, the Iranian version of the SF-36 was administered to a random sample of 4163 healthy individuals aged 15 years and over in Tehran. Reliability was estimated using the internal consistency and validity was assessed using known groups comparison and convergent validity. In addition factor analysis was performed. Results: In all 4163 individuals were interviewed. The mean age of the respondents was 35.1 (SD=16.0) years, 52% were female, mostly married (58%)' and the mean years of their formal education was 10.0 (SD=4.5). The internal consistency (to test reliability) showed that all eight SF-36 scales met the minimum reliability standard, the Cronbach's α coefficients ranging from 0.77 to 0.90 with the exception of the vitality scale (α =0.65). Known groups comparison showed that in all scales the SF-36 discriminated between men and women, and old and the young respondents as anticipated (all p values less than 0.05). Convergent validity (to test scaling assumptions) using each item correlation with its hypothesized scale showed satisfactory results (all correlation above 0.40 ranging from 0.58 to 0.95). Factor analysis identified two principal components that jointly accounted for 65.9% of the variance. Conclusion: In general, the Iranian version of the SF-36 performed well and findings suggest that it is a reliable and valid measure of health related quality of life among the general population.

Objective (s): To report either at birth anthropometry indices or determining percentile points of weight, height and circumference of head and also show a uni and multivariates comparison for these variables in two sexes and in normal childbirth and cesarean deliveries in different regions of the city of Arak. Methods: This was a cross-sectional pilot on all live offspring in Arak in 2002. All live newborns in this year was 10241 which (5241 boys and 5000 girls). The prevalence rate of low birth weight among these live newborns was estimated about 9%. Results: The mean weight of all cases was 3193 (± 586) gr and among boys and girls were 3193 (±586) and 3100 (± 531) gr respectively. There was a significant statistical difference between boys and girls (P<0.01).The height of all cases was 49.9 (±3.1) cm and in boys and girls were 50.1 (±3) and 49.7 (±3.1) cm and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01).The circumference of head in all newborns was 34.8± 1.9 cm and in boys and girls were 35.1±1.8 and 34.5±1.8 cm respectively (P<0.01).The prevalence of low birth in this study is adjusted to WHO stated rate in 1990 to 1996 in Iran. There was a significant statistical difference between weight, height and circumference of mean head in the study. The mean weight and height of newborns in this study significantly was lower than NCHS figures (P<0.01), but in case of circumference of head, the mean of boys was greater than the NCHS records (P<0.01), and there was no significant statistical difference among girls head circumference (P>0.05). A significant statistical difference of head with amount of NCHS curve was not seen but above the 25 percentile, the mentioned difference became statistically significant. Conclusion: Prospective study on live newborns and drawing growth curve is necessary. Further specific research in central region of the country is recommended.