Showing 2 results for Epidemiologic Studies
M Vahdaninia, A Montazeri,
Volume 2, Issue 1 (3-2006)
Abstract
The term "health inequalities" is not a descriptive one: it refers to discrepancies in morbidity and mortality, life expectancy, disability life adjusted years, etc that are due to differences in such factors as socioeconomic status, gender and race/ethnicity. Socio-economic inequalities are the differences in health status (e.g. disease prevalence and incidence rates) across various socio-economic groups.
In Europe, measuring socio-economic health inequalities has long been a major research topic. However, there have been relatively few experimental studies in Asia, especially in developing countries. In the social context, measurement of socio-economic status is based on income, educational level and employment status. Stratifying the socio-economic groups based on a hierarchy identifies the pattern of morbidity and mortality in each socio-economic stratum. It also shows the exact relationship between socio-economic status and health.
The main data sources for determination of population health status and measuring health inequalities are registries and cross-sectional surveys.
It seems that monitoring, prevention and evaluation of health inequalities, especially with a focus on socio-economic level has been neglected in developing countries, including Iran. Due to the lack of formal registries on population health status in these countries, designing cross-sectional and population-based studies would be a useful approach in the prevention and monitoring of health inequalities.
J Poorolajal, P Tajik, B Yazdizadeh, M Sehat, Ar Salehi, M Rezaei, K Holakouie Naieni,
Volume 5, Issue 1 (6-2009)
Abstract
Background & Objectives: Observational studies are not often reported in detail and clear enough, so that assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of these studies is not straightforward. To improve the reporting of observational studies, a checklist of items called ‘Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology’ (STROBE) was developed by some experts in October 2007. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of reporting of observational studies before STROBE statement.
Methods: We included randomly sixty cohort studies published in six important international journals until October 2007. Then, we used STROBE checklist to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these included studies.
Results: On average, more than 81% (95% CI: 77%-87%) of included studies pointed to 43 items of aim of this study. The most reported (100%) items were "scientific background" and "rationale for the investigation" and the less reported (30%) item was “flow chart”.
Conclusions: Although, the quality of reported cohort studies’ results was acceptable, the type of study, journal and date of publication could influence on the quality of observational studies.
