Epidemiology and Health System Journal
Year:2016 | Volume:3 | Issue:4|Papers Count:12

Background and aims: Blacks have a higher rate of chronic medical conditions (CMC), disability, and depressive symptoms compared to Whites. The present study compared Blacks and Whites for bidirectional associations between CMC, disability, and depressive symptoms over a 25-year period.Methods: Data came from all five waves (1986, 1989, 1994, 2001, and 2011) of the Americans’ Changing Lives Study (ACL). This study followed 3, 497 Whites and Blacks for up to 25 years. Number of CMC, disability, and depressive symptoms [Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D)] were measured at all waves. Multi-group crossed lag modeling was used to test four models, where race defined the groups.Results: Based on Models 1 and Model 2, cross-sectional associations between CMC and depressive symptoms at 1989, 2001, and 2011 were significant among Whites but not Blacks. Based on Model 3, lagged effect of CMC in 2001 on depressive symptoms in 2011 was only significant for Whites. Based on Model 4, cross-sectional associations between disability and depressive symptoms in 1989 were found among Whites but not Blacks.Conclusion: Compared to Whites, Blacks show fewer cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between CMC, disability, and depressive symptoms over time. These findings are robust, regardless of whether we conceptualize disability or depressive symptoms as the outcome.

Background and aims: Obesity is one of the most important problems of modern society, and body mass index (BMI) is a tool to indicate overweight and obesity in adults. Obesity is directly associated with many non-communicable diseases. So for this reason, it was designed a study to assess overweight and obesity in Kooy dormitory students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2015.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 342 students (210 girls and 132 boys) selected by random cluster sampling. Students' height and weight were measured and other data were collected by questionnaire and finally analyzed using SPSS.Results: The average age of girls and boys was 23.27±3.09 and 22.58±5.08, respectively. Findings showed that girls’ average BMI was 21.40±3.32 and boys’ one was 23.6±2.82, with significant difference between sexes (P<0.001). From all students who participated in the study 9.3% were underweight, 73.8% normal, 15.2% overweight and 1.5% obese. Smoking and sleeping hours were correlated positively with BMI, while that of meal frequency was negative.Conclusion: Results indicate that university students would benefit from a nutrition and health promotion program to reduce the likelihood of overweight and obesity among them.

Background and aims: Nowadays introduction of regular blood transfusion therapy has obviously improved the life expectancy of patients with thalassemia. However, these patients face with newer challenges which influence their quality of life (QoL). In this study, the aim of this study was to measure QoL among patients with b-thalassemia major (b-TM).Methods: A cross-sectional study was done at the thalassemia centre of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. All the forty patients with β-thalassemia which were more than 12 years old referred to blood transfusion and participated in this study. Then, they were asked to fill out the Short Form Health Status Survey (SF-36) questionnaire. The questionnaire evaluates 8 health areas including physical functioning (PF), role-physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), role-emotional (RE) and mental health (MH). The scores of each participant were calculated and data were analyzed using SPSS.Results: There were 18 men and 22 women, and the mean age was 21.69±5.74 years (range 12-38). No significant difference was seen in QoL between men and women (68.72±19.79 versus 67.47±18.80, P=0.84). The mean±SD score of PF, RP, BP, GH, VT, SF, MH was 80.5±16, 83.75±29.17, 71.94±24.22, 57.48±23.93, 54.36±22.51, 68.94±23.37, 66.33±36.04 and 58.51±23.68, respectivly. No significant differences were detected in all mentioned scores between men and women (P>0.05).Conclusion: Although most of the participants had suitable physical functioning, thalassemia had a negative effect on emotional role, social functioning and mental health of patients. It shows the importance of psychosocial supports for these patients.

Background and aims: Diabetes type II (non-insulin dependent) which is one of the most prevalent diabetes types in the world emerges in people with the age of above 55 and genetic and environmental factors interfere in this disease. The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting diabetes type II with generalized mixed linear model.Methods: Population of this study included 2820 people with the age of above 30 residing in Yazd Province who were selected using cluster sampling. To analyze the data, mixed logistic regression model was used in R software.Results: In this study, 25% of men and 24.3% of women had diabetes. The regression analysis showed that age, WHR, family diabetes record, and BMI of 001 were the factors affecting diabetes, while variables of gender, house area, and education were not significant. On the other hand, unknown factors of residence place had high correlation with affliction with diabetes.Conclusion: Based on the results obtained from this study, change of lifestyle and prevention of obesity can prevent affliction with diabetes to a great extent.

Background and aims: Nowadays, Orofacial clefts are known as the most common orofacial birth defects. Several factors are responsible for problem, such as environmental factors, genetic background, nutritional deficiencies such as Vitamins, zinc, iron, maternal diseases, exposure to teratogenicagents, smoking, drugs, organic solvents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the of risk factors frequency of orofacial clefts in our rigion.Methods: This is an epidemiological study with retrospective database including parent’s age, family history, medical and drug history in pregnancy, toxin exposure, urbanistic habituation and parent’s job.Results: A total of 670 patients with orofacial cleft were studied. Parents were in 15-35 years old range. The frequency of cleft history in parents was 12.7%. Passive smoking (7%) and depression were the most common predisposing factor and most common maternal disease, respectively. Amoxicillin was the most common drug used in pregnancy period. Most of patients (92.5%) did not live in high risk areas. The most common job in fathers was agricultural.Conclusion: Orofacial clefts are the multifactorial disease. Due to its prevention, there is a need to focus on the local risk factors to be able to reach further information to reduce its occurance rate and also to find a better way to reduce the related costs on both patients and healthcare system.

Background and aims: Helicobacter pylori is the primary cause of various diseases. This study was conducted to determine the existence of H. pylori in springs and surface water in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.Methods: In this study, 29 water samples were collected from three different locations of Zayanderud River, 24 springs, and two subterranean from June 2014 to August 2014 in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Samples were filtered and DNAs were extracted. Then, the existence of H. pylori DNA was tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for 16S rRNA, glm and Cag genes.Results: In the present study, the total infection rate of samples by H. pylori was 24.13%. H. pylori and DNA was detected in 100% of samples of Zayanderud River, 12.5% in springs of Dehcheshmeh in Farsan and Baram in Lordegan, and 50% in aqueducts.Conclusion: These findings show the existence of H. pylori in springs and surface water in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province and additional evidence for waterborne transmission of H. pylori in some environments.

Background and aims: The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents is increasing worldwide. One of the key lifestyle behaviors that helps prevent obesity and being overweight among children and adolescents is to avoid drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) or to take, at most, one serving per day. The present study intended to evaluate knowledge and perceptions of high school girl students in Shahrekord on reducing SSBs consumption based on the health belief model (HBM).Methods: The present descriptive-analytical study, conducted in 2013–2014, randomly recruited 308 female students aged 13–14 years. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire based on HBM and a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were evaluated using face validity, content validity, and inter-rater reliability. The Chi-square test, Pearson’s correlation, and Spearman’s correlation tests were used in SPSS software to analyze the data. The participants declared their informed consent for participation.Results: The research findings showed that the mean score of students’ knowledge was 36.53±21.87; mean scores of perceived susceptibility and perceived severity were 31.88±15.04, and 34.76±19.82, respectively; perceived benefits of reducing the consumption of SSBs was 43.51±20.18, and perceived barriers was 41.56±15.69. There was a direct significant relationship between knowledge and perceived susceptibility as well as between perceived susceptibility and perceived severity. The students’ intake of SSBs was calculated as 2.95 glasses per day. There was a direct significant relationship between perceived benefits and mother’s job, between perceived barriers and father’s job, and between knowledge and mother’s age. There was an inverse relationship between perceived susceptibility and father’s job.Conclusion: Considering the high intake of SSBs among students, along with their little knowledge and perception about its negative effects, it seems necessary to plan for proper educational and theory-based interventions for adolescents in order to improve their knowledge and develop a positive attitude toward reducing SSBs consumption.

Background and aims: The most important risk factors threatening health of young people include improper diet, inactivity, smoking, intentional and accidental damages, drugs, AIDS/HIV and psychiatric disorders. Considering increased risky behaviors among teens during 2 last decades, it was decided to evaluate the effects of education and consultation roles in relation to health risks on performance of teens from suburban areas within 4 months following interventions and to propose a model for health-based modification of teen's behaviors. The aim of this study was to determine the intervening role of health risk-related personal education and consultation on performance of high school students from suburban areas in Kermanshah province.Methods: Research population consisted of 8534 high school students from suburban areas of Kermanshah province. School wise questionnaires were completed for all samples before and four months after holding personal education and consulting session.Results: Performances of students on intentional/accidental damages, nutrition, physical activities and AIDS/HIV was improved 4 months after education consultation intervention (P<0.05). No significant changes were observed with student's performance in the fields of smoking, addiction and psychiatric disorders in comparison with the time prior to the intervention.Conclusion: These examination findings revealed positive effects of personal education and consultation on modification of teen's risky behaviors. It appears that a long-term planning is required for modifying behaviors regarding smoking, drugs usage and psychiatric disorders. Self-care education is particularly important because experience has proven that role of classic education pales over time while knowledge leading to acquired skills will be more permanent.

Background and aims: The study investigated mortality rates of children in west area of Isfahan province in 2006-2012.Methods: This cross- sectional study performed in a seven- years period by using information received from Isfahan Health center on neonatal mortality rate, and infant mortality rate under 5 years mortality rate in the west of Isfahan province.Results: The results showed that the NMR in rural areas was 13.5 and in urban areas was 9.5, IMR in rural areas was 18.6 and in urban areas was 13.5, and also U5MR in rural areas was 21.8 and in urban areas was 15.3, Results showed significant relation between indicators of NMR and IMR and U5MR with their life area showing.Conclusion: The results showed that the family physician design has been effective in reducing child mortality, but child mortality rates are still higher in rural areas than urban areas. Therefore, it can be concluded that with implementation family physician design only couldn’t change healthy indications in different areas by itself. Other social and economic factors such as income and health education should be improved along with it.

Background and aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between brain waves and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score in clinical cases with depression.Methods: In this study, EEG was taken using neurofeedback device at the point F4 of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of the brain of 60 depressed patients referred to psychiatric clinic. At the same time, Beck Depression Inventory was performed to assess the severity of depression. With the condition of artifact lower than 50%, fourty one EEG related to the 41 subjects were remained after eliminating artifact.Results: The findings of this study confirm the mean decrease in alpha and theta waves and increase beta wave in the brain waves of depressed patients. Comprehensive analysis of the data with a multi-regression indicates a predictable BDI score at F4, based on two variables (mean beta and mean alpha) which reflects the depression increase by increased mean beta and decreased mean alpha according to the following equation: Depression based on Beck at F4 point is equal to: Beck’s depression score=mean beta (0.532)+mean Alpha (0.412).Conclusion: Due to rapid growth of the elderly population in the country as well as Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, considering the needs of this age group is an important necessity.

Background and aims: The world is threatened by disease outbreak that reaches a public health emergency of international concern, studies to inform public and agencies for effective containment strategy are necessary. Several studies provided vital information of the dynamics and control of Ebola epidemic outbreak in West Africa. Methodologies and techniques in those researches have to be reviewed for purposes of synthesis of published research in this area, insight into how to carry out similar studies and future research direction.Methods: In this report we adopted a thematic review of recent studies that covered topical issues of epidemic model theories and applications used in Ebola investigations. Models for studying severity and prevalence of the disease, statistics, and growth threshold parameters, efficacy of intervention measures, and uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of the disease models were reviewed.Results: In 1966, 6.34% of the national total population was over 60 years compared to Ebola dynamics is widely investigated, covering topical epidemiological problems that involves mathematical model for purposes of providing quantitative information for epidemic control decisions.Conclusion: Mathematical models play great role in modelling epidemics, . Therefore, a comprehensive survey of mathematical theories, methodologies and models in Ebola growth studies will provide standpoints for future epidemic investigation.

Background and aims: Air pollution is one of the health problems worldwide. Previous epidemiological studies have investigated the impacts of air pollution on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the associations between air pollution levels and different health indicators among world countries.Methods: This ecological study was performed in 2013 by using dataset of World Health Organization (WHO). The main variable in our study was air pollution index. The data including Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) (per 100000 live births), Life Expectancy at birth (LE), preterm birth rate (per 1000 live births) and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) death rate (per 100000 populations) from 91 countries were extracted. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the linear correlation between air pollution and investigated indexes using Stata 11.Results: MMR (r=0.36, P=0.001) and NCD death rate (r=0.31, P=0.002) were positively associated with air pollution level. The rate of air pollution was also negatively associated with LE among world countries (r=-0.57, P=0.001). Our findings have not shown any significant liner association between air pollution and preterm birth rate (r=0.14, P=0.41).Conclusion: Our results are in agreement with other recent findings that there is an association between air pollution and health indexes, especially mortality rate. Accordingly, from a public health perspective, reducing pollutant emissions to outdoor air should be a high priority for all countries.