Journal of School of Public Health and

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Misclassification of disease status and risk factors is one of the main sources of error in studies. Wrong assignment of individuals into exposed and non-exposed groups may seriously distort the results in case-control studies. This study investigates the effect of misclassification error on odds ratio estimates and attempts to introduce a correction method. Data on 3332 men aged 30-69 years from Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) were considered for investigating the relationship between angina pectoris and smoking. The “Rose” questionnaire was used to evaluate angina status. Two different definitions of smoking were included: I) active smokers versus non-smokers, II) active and ex-smokers versus never smoked. The relation between variables was assessed both with and without considering misclassification in smoking. Definition I (commonly used in many epidemiologic studies), resulted in a non-significant OR=1.09 (95% CI: 0.84, 1.41). Using the correction method based on the principle of non-differential misclassification, the OR increased to 1.13 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.43), which was still non-significant. However, a correction procedure that included the probability of differential misclassification produced a significant OR=1.46 (95% CI: 1.15, 1.85), p<0.05. It is evident that misclassification in risk factors can lead to inaccurate results. This study showed that the relation between variables may have not been discovered if the probability of misclassification was ignored. Moreover, in case of probable differential misclassification, applying correction methods for non-differential misclassification would be inefficient.

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The population of most countries in the word has been growing older during the last 30 years. This trend is important because it leads to a predictable increasing burden of diseases, political, social and economic challenges. The objective of this study was to assess health related quality of life and relating factors in institutionalized elderlies living in “Kahrizak Charity Institution for elder people, in Tehran, Iran”. In this cross sectional research 202 persons aged 65 years and above who were residing in the institution for at least 6 months and able to answer our questions were studied. We used the Iranian version of the SF-36 questionnaire to measure quality of life. Data were collected by face to face interviews. For comparing quality of life between different groups we used non-parametric tests. The mean age of participants was 76.8 (SD=±7.6) years and 58.5% were female.The results showed significant relation between the participants’quality of life scores and variables such as gender, educational level, working in the institution’s workshop, receiving pension, having different types of fractures, deformities, and arthrosis. The study findings indicated that quality of in this group of elderly people was poor and it needs to be improved.

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Background and Aim: This study aimed to determine dietary patterns in district 13 of Tehrani adults and evaluate its association with socio-demographic and lifestyle factors

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 343 male and 453 female aged 18-65 years who participated in Tehran Lipid and Glucose study. Usual dietary intakes were assessed with food frequency questionnaire. Dietary patterns were determined by factor analysis based on 24 food groups identified by similarity of nutrients. Three major dietary patterns were identified: healthy (HDP), western (WDP) and traditional (TDP). Lifestyle and socio-demographic characteristics gathered with pre-tested questionnaires. Multiple regression models separately for men and women were fitted to assess the relationships.

Results:The mean age(SD) of men and women were 40(13) and 36(12) respectively. WDP characterized by a higher consumption of salty snacks, sauces, sweetened beverages, processed meats and refined grains, and the HDP characterized by greater intakes of vegetables, low fat meats, tea and coffee, legumes and nuts.WDP had the most variance among 3 dietary patterns. The mean factor score of HDP was higher in women than in men(P<0.05) after adjusting for age and total energy intake. Adherence to a WDP was higher among younger participants (men: β=-0.46, women:-0.34, P<0.001). The percent of married individuals were the most in fourth quartiles of HDP score among the other quartiles (P<0.01) and married men were less likely to follow WDP (β=-0.25, P<0.01).

Conclusion:Three major dietary patterns were found with factor analysis: western, healthy and traditional. Younger and single individuals had more adherence to WDP and women had higher score in HDP.