Iranian Journal of

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Background & objectives: In the management of crush syndrome, the way of treating compartment syndrome is controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of compartment syndrome treatment after Bam earthquake.
Methods: Clinical and laboratory findings of all fasciotomized patients in Bam earthquake were analyzed. Then nonfasciotomized patients with same characteristics were selected and the outcomes of two groups were compared.
Results: Fasciotomy for 107 injured out of 2962 hospitalized patients, was performed (46% female). Mean age of fasciotomized patients was 27.4±9.7 years (min=10, max=65 year). There were not significant differences in the final outcome of two groups with the same clinical, biochemical and demographic characteristics.
Conclusions: Fasciotomy for 107 injured out of 2962 hospitalized patients, was performed (46% female). Mean age of fasciotomized patients was 27.4±9.7 years (min=10, max=65 year). There were not significant differences in the final outcome of two groups with the same clinical, biochemical and demographic characteristics.

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Background & Objectives: Osteoporosis is major public health concern affecting millions of adults particularly older adults and women worldwide. Designing effective educational intervention is principle in any health promotion program. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an educational intervention based on health belief model on knowledge about, attitudes toward and practice of prevention osteoporosis among women with low socioeconomic status in Isfahan.
Methods: The study population consisted of 14 women with low socioeconomic status and under 60 years old. A valid and reliable questionnaire developed and used as measurement tool for initial and final assessments in this program. In addition calcium intake and vitamin D, physical activity and exposure to the sun were assessed.
Results: The mean age of the participants were 40.8 ± 10.52 years. The mean score of all parts of health belief model (except for perceived barriers), knowledge, sun exposure, and physical activity after educational intervention compared to before intervention, were increased significantly. There was no statistically significant difference between daily calcium and vitamin D intake before and after intervention.
Conclusion: It is concluded that the HBM Model– based educational program on Knowledge and belief regarding Osteoporosis prevention seems practical and effective. However more research should be done to find out more effective intervention regarding optimal calcium and vitamin D intake.

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Background and Objectives: Social capital consists of individuals' communicational networks, social norms such as mutual trust and cooperation in social networks. The aim of this study was to develop a model to assess the implication of different determinants such as age, gender, occupational status, mental and physical health on social capital components to draw a correlation network for social capital determinants.
Methods: For the purpose of this study, data was used from ‘social capital' section of Urban HEART-1 survey, which included 22,500 households from all 22 districts of Tehran, who were approached in a randomized multistage cluster sampling method. Path analysis is a statistical method to test hypothetical causal models, which requires various causal (path) diagrams. To demonstrate the causal models of social capital, the hypothetical paths of various components were developed and the final model of social capital was drawn using multiple regression analyses.
Results: Path analysis indicated that social capital components are influenced by various variables: A) Individual trust, by occupational status, marital status, and physical component of health-related quality of life B) Cohesion and social support, by education, age, and marital status C) Collective trust and associative relation, by family size, age and physical health. Direct effect of these variables on social capital components was more than their indirect effects (through mental health and physical health).
Conclusion: Social capital components are directly affected by occupational, marital, educational status, family size, physical health and duration of local residency. Planning to improve educational and occupational status, strengthening family bonds and provision of local facilities, may improve social capital.

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Background & Objectives: The number of road traffic accidents (RTAs) and their mortality are increasing in the world. In Iran, RTAs have caused life losses and economical damages. Death is the most important consequence of the accidents in terms of social, economic, and even political expenditures. This paper reports the statistics of the mortality status in the last decade.

Methods: A 10-year study was conducted on national and provincial data of the last decade collected by Legal Medicine Research Center. The population information provided by the National Center of Statistics was used. SPSS 15.5 and Microsoft Office Excel 2007 were used for data analysis.

Results: Between 2001 and 2010, the annual average of 34.6 per hundred thousand people were killed in traffic accidents, more than 80% of the casualties are men. The highest number of deaths and injuries was observed in 2005 and the lowest occurred in 2001. RTAs had a descending trend trough the last decade but the rate of injuries increased. The death rates in Semnan, Qazvin, and Kerman were the highest and in Tehran, Ardabil, and West Azarbaijan were the lowest.

Conclusion: Although mortality rates due to RTAs declined during the last four years of the study period, direct and indirect costs of deaths resulting from RTAs in Iran are a sign of crisis.

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Background and Objectives: Evaluation of the epidemiologic pattern of diseases requiring hospitalization is one of the effective factors in better management of hospitals, which can provide health managers and planners with a realistic and appropriate view on procuring the equipment and furnishing and equipping the hospitals in the country. This study was conducted to investigate this pattern based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) using the information recorded in Tehran Health Insurance Organization in a ten-year period.
 
Methods: In this descriptive research, we examined all records of hospitalized cases registered in the hospital information system of Tehran Health Insurance Organization during 2005 to 2014. The data of more than two million records, including case number, gender, and age of the patients as well as the diagnosis code were extracted from the hospital information system.
 
Results: From 2008859 cases, 51.9% of patients were male and the mean age of the patients was 24.60±44.22 years. In children less than one year, “certain conditions originating in the perinatal period”, in children aged one to four years “symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified”, in children 5 to 14 years “neoplasm”, in patients 15 to 44 years “pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium”, and in patients above 45 years, “diseases of the circulatory system” were the most common diagnostic categories in hospitalized insured patients.
 
Conclusion: Due the specialization of diseases and various causes of hospitalization, to prevent wastage of financial and human resources, health policymakers and planners should allocate resources to insurance companies according to the scope of their activities.

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Background and Objectives: Suicide is one of the psychosocial problems in Lorestan Province due to its socio-cultural and economic structure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of age group, time period, and birth cohort on the suicide incidence in Lorestan Province during the 2006-2015.
 
Methods: In this study, to overcome the identifiability problem, the Carstensen approach and natural cubic smoothing character were used in age-period-cohort models (APC). Cohort effect was calculated as the relative rate from the 1984 reference cohort for men and 1987 cohort for women. The period effect in both sexes constrained to be relative to 1390 and to be 0 on average with 0 slope. The best APC model for both sexes was the models with "AC-P" parameter, 7 knots, and natural splines for men and B splines for women. All analyses were performed using the R software with Epi package.
 
Results: The age effect showed that the highest suicide incidence rate was seen in the elderly. Two strong birth cohort effects were observed, one increasing one in the 1980 cohort and one decreasing one in 1991 cohort. The most significant period effect was seen in men in 2011.
 
Conclusion: The effects of 1991 and 1980 birth cohorts could be due to the consequences of imposed war in Iran. The three economic phenomena, oil price change, increased divorce rate, and increased unemployment rate can be effective in the emergence of the period effect in year 2011.

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Background and Objectives: Water and foodborne diseases are major causes of mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting an gastroenteritis outbreak in Hamadan county in summer of 2019.
 
Methods: This study was performed based on the outbreak investigation process. After producing hypotheses based on preliminary field studies, a case-control study was conducted on 45 cases and 45 controls to investigate the factors associated with the outbreak. New cases of the disease were included according to the case definition. A logistic regression model was used to investigate potential risk factors.
 
Results: A total of 171 people were affected in this outbreak from 25 June 2019 to 01 July 2019. The at-risk population in this outbreak was 3410 individuals. The attack rate was 5.1%. Abdominal pain, vomiting, and nausea were the most common symptoms with a prevalence of 77.8%, 73.3% and 68.9%, respectively. The results of the case-control study showed that the consumption of tap and spring/well water increased the odds of disease by 4.63 and 4.13 times compared to boiled water, although these relationships were not statistically significant. The odds of diseases were significantly lower in people aged 30-45 years and 46-85 years compared people aged 15 years old and younger.
 
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the outbreak was related to contaminated water consumption. Therefore, regular monitoring of drinking water status is very important for the local health system.
 

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Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of patients with Covid-19 in Hamadan Province.
 
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, demographic and epidemiological data of all people who presented to hospitals in Hamadan Province from February 2019 to December 2020 were extracted using two checklists. Data were then analyzed using the Stata software.
 
Results: In this study, 9674 covid-19 positive patients were examined. According to results, 49.11% of the cases occurred in the elderly over 60 years. The rate of involvement was higher in females than males (51.57% vs. 48.43%). Moreover, 72.05% of the definitive patients lived in the city and 0.76% reported traveling to areas with a high prevalence of the disease two weeks before the onset of symptoms. The highest incidence of this disease per one hundred thousand population was in Malayer, Hamedan and Nahavand counties and the highest fetality was in Razan and Dargazin, Tuyserkan and Asadabad counties, respectively. The data of suspected, probable, and definite outpatients with Covid-19 presenting to medical centers were not evaluated in this study.
 
Conclusion: Due to the high death rate in the elderly, males, those with underlying diseases, and people living in rural areas, it is necessary to design and apply precautionary measures in these groups. Attention should be paid to these high-risk groups in the shortest possible time to reduce the burden of this disease on individuals as well as the health care system.

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