Iranian Journal of Public Health
Volume:46 Issue: 3, Mar 2017

This study conducted to assess publications of diabetes treatments to understand research gaps and priorities to guide a management map for future strategy of diabetes research in Iran.
All studies published from the beginning until 2015 in national and international journals by Iranian authors conducted in the field of diabetes. This comprehensive search strategy without any limitation obtained 8668 publications in international journals and 16921 documents in national journals (25589 documents). Finally, 1019 diabetes management articles were included in this study. Each article categorized based on the study design, subject area, the World Health Organization (WHO) classification and Australian Standard Research Classifications.
There was an increasing trend in a number of publications. Top subject areas were “traditional treatment” with global publication share of 25.8% and “Control of diabetes” ranked the second (24.9%). According to WHO classification, the highest number of productions was in “Basic Research” area (39%) and Australian Standard Research Classification showed 59% of the articles were in “Clinical Medicine and Science” area. Study design of 39.9% articles was basic studies, 23.1% were randomized clinical trial and 21.9% were cross-sectional.
This study showed a relatively ascending trend of scientific publications in the field of diabetes managements in Iran. We can identify the research gaps and research priorities for diabetes management research for future studies. In Future, management map with other diabetes area research maps will be compiled into a single “Roadmap for Diabetes Research in Iran”.

Despite the benefits of diabetes patient education, it is imperative to analyze the status of researches in this field and identify research gaps and priorities if our limited health resources are to be used wisely and effectively. This study is a part of Iran Diabetes Research Roadmap study to find the knowledge gap in the field of diabetes patient education in Iran.
All publications of Iranian authors about diabetes patient education in national (SID, IranMedex, and Magiran) and international journals (PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus) up to 2015 were reviewed. Overall, 306 studies were categorized by subject category, methodology, WHO classification and NHMRC criteria.
Most numbers of samples in the subject category were about the effect of self-care training (28%) and then model-based educational interventions (13%). Moreover, trend in publication rate of papers related to the patient education topic is relatively increasing with time, despite some difficulties points. Half of the papers were cross-sectional and 46% of them were interventional studies.
Although trend of papers subjects was relatively scattered, most of patient education studies in Iran were about assessing the positive effects of self-care education similar to other countries. However, quality assessment for all studies should be carried out in future research.

The study aim was to reports detailed characteristics of nutrition research in field of diabetes, and recognize knowledge gap in nutrition science in diabetes in Iran.
Online databases of PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus as well as national databases including SID, IranMedex, and Magiran were searched up to 2015 to identify eligible articles. Finally, 378 articles were included.
Final articles were categorized based on WHO and Australian classifications, study design and subject area. The most number of studies (80%) was related in strategies and interventions of health-related outcome group the WHO classification. The most percentage of publications in Australian classification system was allocated to clinical researches (78%) and the least studies were health service studies (0.08%). The most common designs used in the obtained documents (41%) were Randomized Clinical Trials (RCT) and about 17% of publications were animal studies. Cohort studies were the least studies among the obtained documents. The most common subject was type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and its complications followed by DM management (64%, n=241). The least numbers of publications were dedicated to GDM (Gestational Diabetes Mellitus). There was a large ascent in studies during 2010-2011 and 2012-2013.
Available evidence provides very good support for the role of nutrition diets in the prevention and management of all types of diabetes. This systematic review indicates trend of nutrition researches in diabetes was noticeable flourished, while the important subjects in diabetes studies are forgotten or unimportance.

This study aimed to provide comprehensive analysis of research output in the field of diabetes and exercise in Iran.
Search process of the present study was a part of search strategy of Iran Diabetes Research Roadmap (IDRR) study. All publications of Iranian authors about diabetes and exercise in national (SID, IranMedex, and Magiran) and international journals (PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus) up to 2015 were reviewed. After screening and adjusting for duplicates, 180 studies were remained and categorized by subject category, methodology, WHO classification and NHMRC criteria.
Among 180obtained articles, in term of subject area mostnumber of documents was about the type of sports (55%) followed by social aspect of exercise and physiologic effects. Aerobic exercise (52.5%) was the most common exercises studied. Moreover, overall trend of publications was relatively increasing during the study period. More than half of the papers were randomized clinical trial (RCT) (51.11%).
Although trend of papers subjects was relatively scattered, most of exercise studies in Iran were about the type of sports with more focus on aerobic exercises in patients with type 2 diabetes. Future research in this field should be directed more toward cohorts and systematic reviews that provide high level of evidence. However, quality assessment for all studies should be carried out in future research.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common non-communicable diseases associated with different complications. The study aim was to analyze and report characteristics of research output in the field of diabetes complication in Iran in details and identify research gap in this field.
All scientific diabetes output published by Iranian authors in national and international journals until 2015 was included and analyzed. National and international databases including PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, SID, IranMedex, and Magiran were searched. The obtained results were categorized into eleven subgroups. of complications, comorbidities, management, psychiatry, nutrition, prevention, physical activity, genetics, basic sciences, education and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). In each category, documents were classified based on the study design and topic as well as WHO and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) classification.
After screening, 1262 documents remained. Trend of publication was growing during the study period. However, small temporary drop was seen in 2012 and 2014. The most common type of studies in WHO and NHMRC classification belonged to distribution and causes and clinical research, respectively. Cross-sectional and animal designs were the most common methodologies used and vascular complications were the most common subject area in the obtained documents.
Subject trend of Iranian studies in the field of diabetes complications is compatible with the prevalence of such complications. However, results show lack of studies with high level of evidence including cohorts and systematic reviews in Iran. Although the trend of publications is growing but considering the importance of this issue, it is not enough and more funds should be allocated in this field. Considering the increasing frequency of basic research close collaboration between basic and clinical research is required to apply these findings in our diabetes guidelines.

Most adult patients with diabetes have at least one comorbid chronic condition and approximately 40% have three or more. The purpose of this study was to investigate detailed characteristics of studies examining comorbidities of diabetes in Iran and to identify knowledge gaps in this field.
All documents published by Iranian authors in national and international journals until 2015 were evaluated. A wide search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS as well as SID, IranMedex and Magiran databases using proper keywords. The obtained documents were categorized into eleven subgroups of complications, comorbidities, management, psychiatry, nutrition, prevention, physical activity, genetics, basic sciences, education and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Documents were categorized based on WHO and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) classification, the study methodology and topic.
Overall, 311 documents were obtained. The trend of publications was ascending since 2000. About 70% of studies were about epidemiology and causes of comorbid disease and more than 90% of studies were clinical research. The design of the most studies was cross-sectional followed by case-control and randomized clinical trial. The most common subject of documents was related to endocrine (28.61%) followed by gastrointestinal (18.32%) and cardiovascular disease (14.14%).
Epidemiological studies are the most common type of studies about diabetes comorbidity in Iran and cross-sectional design is the most frequent methodology used while there are few cohorts. There is no study about physiopathology and shared etiology and pathogenesis of these comorbidities and diabetes.

Diabetes has become a daunting health and medical challenge as well as a hefty economic burden for societies over the past decades. This study was designed to shed light on the overall trend of research across Iran regarding mental health status of diabetic patients.
Search process of the present study is part of search strategy of Iran Diabetes Research Roadmap (IDRR) study. We performed a thorough search about Iran diabetes research output in national (Iranmedex, Magiran, and SID) and international (Pubmed, ISI and Scopus) databases up to 2015. After removing duplicates, 426documents were remained and categorized by subject category, methodology, WHO classification and NHMRC criteria.
Most of obtained studies were concerned with quality of life, treatment, intervention, and behavioral disorders. Based on WHO categories, most studies revolved around epidemiology, causes and determinants of health-related outcomes. Methodological classification showed cross-sectional as the favored method of research. In the Australian classification system, most studies were clinical studies. The year 2010 and 2011 had the greatest spike during the study period.
Overall trend in publication rate of papers related to the mental health is relatively growing. However, the lack of priority setting is obvious and there is a pressing need for more in-depth evaluations, prioritization of study type and interventional studies based on the needs of patients suffering from diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the most common metabolic disorder worldwide. This study aimed to report characteristics of genetic studies in DM in Iran and to identify knowledge gap in genetics of diabetes in Iran.
All publications of Iranian authors in national and international journals up to 2015 were included. Comprehensive search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, SID, IranMedex and Magiran using "Diabetes mellitus" and "Iran*" keywords and their combination. This search obtained 25589 documents. The obtained documents were categorized into eleven groups of complications, comorbidity, management, psychology, nutrition, physical activity, genetics, basic sciences, prevention, education and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Documents were categorized based on publication year, WHO and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) classification, study design and subject area.
After screening, 293 documents remained. The trend of publications was increasing and reached peak in 2013. Case-control was the most common method used in the documents. Most of the studies were association study with case-control design while there was no genome-wide association study (GWAS). Genetic risk factors for DM and its complications were the most common topics in the obtained documents followed by DM management.
The most of genetic studies in diabetes in Iran are association studies about genetic risk factors of diabetes while GWAS and pharmacogenetic studies are rare or absent. This may indicate low priority of personalized medicine in the field of diabetes in Iran.

Basic science studies evaluation is important feature for an effective implementation of diabetes research and funding policy. This study aimed to provide an evaluation of diabetes basic research output up to 2015 in Iran.
Data were retrieved from scientific search engine including PubMed, Web of science, SCOPUS as well as Iranian science databases including SID, IranMedex, and Magiran using “Diabetes mellitus” and ‘Iran” keywords. After classification of total collected publications, basic sciences category was considered as one of the main groups. Specific areas of research activity in the main basic sciences disciplines, methodology of publications as well as proportionality of publications to WHO and Australian classification were identified.
Overall, 1249 basic science items were published up to 2015 in Iran. The greatest number of outputs were published in 2013 (n=201). The annual average growth rate was 38.45%. The Biochemistry contributed 63.7% to the overall output, followed by the Physiology (15.9%) and Histopathology & Anatomy (14.5%). The least participation was attributed to basic microbiology (1%). Animal study was the most common method (64%) followed by the Case-Control method (10.6%).
The present study is the first large-scale analysis of Iranian basic researches in the field of diabetes. It identified single areas of research heavily focused or have been neglected. These areas should be reconsidered aiming to close the knowledge gaps and good policymaking. Basic researches and clinical relevance are approached based on old theories with slight originality in our country.

Gestational diabetes mellitus has adverse effects on maternal and fetal outcomes during pregnancy and after delivery. The aim of this study was evaluation of the status of scientific research in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Iran.
This study is a part of the Iranian diabetes research roadmap (IDDR) project. We investigated the electronic database, including PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus as well as Scientific Information Database (SID), Indexing Articles Published in Iran Biomedical Journals (Iran Medex) and Iranian Magazine Database (Magiran) and extracted documents published by Iranian authors up to 2015. We also determined the subject area and the study design as well as the WHO and Australian National Health classifications.
There were 229 relevant publications related to GDM. The most rapidly increasing trend in the publication was observed in two stages; 2007-2009 and then 2010-2013. The highest portion of the publications was clinical studies (74%). Regarding the study design, cross-sectional (32%), case-control (26%) and cohort (18%) studies were the most common types of studies. Regarding the subject, the most percentage of publications were allocated to fetal complications (46%) and the least were about prevention of GDM (1%).
The research about the GDM is non-coordinated and not effective and there is not any participated framework to guide the research related to GDM in Iran. Thus, it is critical to provide the roadmap for GDM studies to preserve time and money. This study identified and highlighted the research gap in GDM in Iran to provide a roadmap for the medical research of GDM.