Journal of School of Public Health and

Background and Aim: Breast carcinoma is the most common type of cancer in women. It has been estimated that 8-9 percent of all women will develop breast cancer during their lifespan. According to The Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the incidence of breast cancer in Iran has risen between 1984 and 1988 and the current mortality rate from this kind of cancer ranks fifth in the country.

Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 110 patients with breast cancer (ages 20-60 yrs) were compared with a similar number of age- and sex-matched women hospitalized for other reasons. Cases were women with histologically confirmed in situ or invasive breast cancer diagnosed no more than 1 year before the interview and with no previous diagnosis of cancer at other sites. Controls were drawn from either patient relatives or from women with no history of cancer admitted to Imam Hospital for acute, non-neoplastic, non-gynecologic conditions unrelated to hormonal or digestive tract disease or to long-term diet modifications. We calculated odds ratios and performed Mantel-Haenzel as well as logistic regression tests to control for potential confounding factors.

Results: Odds ratios [with 95% confidence intervals] for total fat, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and cholesterol were 1.97 [1.062-3.67], 1.19 [0.64-2.14], 2.2 [1.17-4.13], 4.11 [2.2-7.65] and 0.45 [0.25-0.83], respectively. After adjusting for energy, macronutrients, weight, age at first full-term pregnancy and the socioeconomic status, it emerged that the intake of PUFA (OR=6.38 and 95%CI: 1.95-20.83) had a positive association with breast cancer while cholesterol (OR=0.22 and 95%CI: 0.09-0.55) showed a negative relationship, though the latter finding only applies to menopaused women.

Conclusion: Undoubtedly, dietary factors involved in the etiology of breast cancer take many years to cause any pathologic changes in any organ. Nonetheless, one-year frequency of lipid intake is a good measure of individual's dietary habit throughout his/her adult life. Based on this, the present study suggests that increased PUFA intake- probably due to its high pro-oxidant potential- can be considered as a key factor in the rising incidence of breast cancer in Iran.

  Background and Aim: The community assessment is the basis of strategic policies for health professionals and managers. The aim of community assessment is collection of the data that relating to public health problems, data analysis and concludes about necessary capacities for providing the necessary resources to resolve problems.

  Materials and Methods: In this study the databases of Scientific Information Database, MagIran, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and IranMedex were searched up to April 2014 (farvardin1393). All papers of community assessment in the country according to our standard community assessment model were included in this study.

  Results: Overall 11 studies were evaluated and the common feature of all research is to identify problems of society and local problems. The drug addiction was classified in 3 of the studies as a main problem and in 7 of studies was classified in the ten major problems. Poverty and unemployment are allocated to the next priority, the second priority in 2 studies, the third priority in 3 studies and the fourth priority in 3 studies. Environmental health problems and socio-cultural problems were the next priorities.

  Conclusion: The proposed model can be used to suggest new health services with due consideration of community problems, as well as develop suitable, effective intervention strategies. This type of community study should not be conducted only once. Rather, it should be repeated periodically in any community, results compared and used for policy-making.