Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Today, overweight and obesity are major health concerns in developed and developing countries. Meanwhile, the issue is particularly important in children due to its consequences in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of overweight and obesity in preschool children in Kerman, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted from December to March of 2016 among 731 preschool children (5 to 6 years old) who were selected using convenience sampling. The nutritional status of children was assessed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee guideline and based on body mass index (BMI) curves for age for boys and girls. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 21 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Chi-square test was used for data analysis, and the significance level was considered less than 0.05.
Results: In this study, 376 boys (51.5%) and 355 girls (48.5%) were investigated. The mean and standard deviation of the age of the participants was 68.7±4.2 months, 53% of these children were first children of the family and 30% of them were only children. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 9.2% and 8.1% respectively. There was no significant relationship between overweight and obesity with gender, number of siblings and parents' education. There was a borderline difference in birth order (P=0.05) and the frequency of overweight and obesity in the firstborn children was more than other birth orders.
Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was high in preschool children. Since these risk factors in children are predictors of chronic diseases during adulthood, we need to design and implement interventions to decrease the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a highly prevalent, serious and chronic infection. It been associated causally with a diverse spectrum of gastrointestinal disorders including chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastric adenocarcinoma. We conducted a study to Evaluation of the role of breastfeeding and breast milk on the colonization of H. pylori in the gastrointestinal tract of 2-24 month old.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 92 children referred to Ali Asghar Hospital of Iran University of Medical Sciences for two years (from July 2015 to June 2017). At first, a questionnaire was recorded by the neonatal specialist including demographic and clinical characteristics of the infants. Stool samples were taken from infants at 2, 6, 12, and 24 months of age. We used the H. pylori stool antigen test to detection infection in the selected group of children. H. pylori status was evaluated by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: In the study of breastfeeding at 12 months of age, 51.1% were fed only dry milk and 28.3% were breastfed only. At 24 months, 22 infants (24%) were breastfed with supplemental feeding and 54 children (58.7%) were  formula-fed only and 8 children (8.7%) were breastfed only. In our study, the prevalence of H. pylori in infants of Tehran, at 2, 6, 12, and 24 months, were 0%, 6.5%, 15.21%, and 34.4%, respectively. Of the 92 children studied, during the first month, 25 children (27.2%) only formula-fed and 49 children (53.3%) were breastfed only and (19.6%) 18 infants were breastfed with dry milk. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was 28.3%. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was 20% in the breastfeeding group and 44% in the infant dry milk feeding group. The prevalence of H. pylori antigen was greater than 12 IU/ml in infants 2, 6, 12, and 24 months of age, including 19.92 (20.6%), 19.92 (20.6%), 24.92 (26.1%) and 21.92 (22.8%), respectively.
Conclusion: According to the findings of the article, breastfed children compared to formula-fed children were less infected by Helicobacter pylori.

Background: Today, due to changes in human lifestyle and consumer demand incidence of foodborne diseases is on the rise. The aim of this study was to investigate the mortality rate of foodborne diseases and their related factors.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data on deaths registered according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10th revision) were extracted from death registration and classification of causes system in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran from 2011 to 2018. Data on deaths from food and water borne diseases including Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium botulinum, and other foodborne diseases were extracted from database of death registration and classification of causes system. The demographic variables of dead people considered in this study include age (under 5 years, 5-20 years, 20-40, 40-60s and over 60 old), gender, nationality, and the location where people died (urban, rural and unknown).
Results: The majority of deaths cases occurred at the age of 60 years and in older age groups (P<0.001). The results show that across all the age groups mortality rate from foodborne diseases was higher among men than among women (P=0.110). Most of foodborne diseases were reported by people living in urban areas (P<0.0001). The results of this study showed that most of the deaths from these diseases occur in the warm seasons. In this study, the crude death rate was 10 cases per one million inhabitants.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that there was a significant difference between the mortality rate due to different bacterial agents. This study suggests that demographic variables are important predictors of mortality from foodborne illness and should be further investigated.

Background: The mortality rate of sepsis and pneumonia is higher in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients than in the general population. Bacterial infections are the most common cause of hospitalization in dialysis patients and the most common source of bacteremia is vascular access in these patients. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of infectious causes of hospitalization in patients with end-stage renal failure in Gorgan.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on patients with ESRD who were admitted to the 5 Azar Medical Education Center of Gorgan City during 2014 to 2016. Patients' information was collected through their clinical records and analyzed statistically.