Jundishapur Journal of Chronic Disease Care
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Jul 2016

A large amount of money is allocated to hypertension in terms of remedial and care costs, but fighting against this disease begins with education..
This study has been conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of two face-to-face education and distance education (via short message service [SMS]) on amount of following remedial diet in patients suffering from hypertension..
Patients and In this clinical trial study, 72 patients who were suffering from hypertension participated. They were selected by the purposeful sampling from three hospitals in Abadan city, Iran. Each of the three groups were similar in terms of age, gender, level of education, marital status, and duration of suffering from hypertension. The first group was under face-to-face education for eight sessions of 30 minutes; the second group under distance education (via SMS); and the third group did not receive any education as they were the control group. The tools used for collecting data involved three questionnaires (demographic data [two parts], following medicinal diet (three parts: MMAS-3, therapeutic lifestyle changes, and dietary approach to stop hypertension), and evaluating the amount of patients’ awareness about their disease. This study applied descriptive and deductive statistics with SPSS Version 20 for statistical analysis..
The results showed that the mean of examined realms, after interference in both the face-to-face and the distance education groups, had a significant statistical difference with the before-interference mean (P = 0.0001). Inter-group comparison between systolic and diastolic blood pressure and awareness realms showed that there was a significant statistical difference between the face-to-face education group compared with the control group (P Having access to distance education is easier for patients with hypertension and it saves time; therefore, it may be the most appropriate method to assist them in following their allocated treatment..

Today, diabetes has become a major challenge for health systems around the globe. It is important to determine patients, families and nurses’ viewpoints and consider their views for controlling diabetes..
The aim of this study was to compare the obstacles related to medical-health systems from the viewpoints of patients, families and nurses in the diabetes association of Ahvaz city, Iran, during year 2012 in order to effectively control diabetes..
Patients and In this cross-sectional study, 75 patients with diabetes and 75 family members of these patients and 75 nurses were randomly selected. The applied tool for data gathering was a questionnaire provided by the researchers and consisted of two parts; the first part of the questions was related to demographic characteristics and the second part was related to obstacles for controlling diabetes. The SPSS (19th version) software and deductive and descriptive statistics were applied for analyzing the data..
The results of this research showed that there was a significant difference among mean scores of obstacles related to medical-health systems from the viewpoint of patients, families and nurses (P = 0.001), so that patients gave a maximum mean score (52.81) and nurses gave a minimum mean score (46.61) for these obstacles..
Regarding the results, it could be suggested that the reason for not being able to control diabetes was the existence of differences among viewpoints while by getting to know the obstacles for controlling diabetes from the viewpoints of the three studied groups, more effective planning for controlling diabetes could be possible..

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and the second leading cause of deaths from cancer. Results of previous studies indicate the effectiveness of screening and early detection in reducing mortality from this disease..
The purpose of this study was to survey the knowledge about prostate cancer and perceived barriers to prostate cancer screening among medical staff of two universities in Ahvaz, Iran..
This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 120 employees over 40 years old at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences and Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, who were selected by using simple random sampling. The data collection tool was a researcher-created questionnaire based on the study of texts and other studies. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software and through analytical methods including descriptive and inferential statistics..
The most common barriers to screening for prostate cancer were a lack of knowledge about where to go for tests and how screening tests are done (70.8%), a lack of emphasis on screening tests (59.1%), and a fear of thinking about the disease (50%). Results showed that there was no significant relationship between doing the serum antigen test and having knowledge regarding prostate cancer. But there was a significant association between prostate cancer screening and perceived barriers (P = 0.001)..
Results showed that whereas knowledge by itself cannot guarantee men’s participation in prostate cancer screenings, perceived barriers can play an important role in discouraging men from cancer screening participation. Therefore, designing programs to address these barriers is very important..

Currently, examining the quality of life is considered an important aspect of the study of chronic diseases. Heart failure affects the quality of life of patients in different degrees..
This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life in heart failure patients..
Patients and This descriptive-analytical research was conducted in 2015, using 126 patients with heart failure at the general hospitals in the city of Ahvaz, Iran. Sampling was performed using a simple method. Data was collected through interviews and a demographic information and quality of life indicator questionnaire, known as the Minnesota living with heart failure questionnaire (MLHFQ). Data were analyzed using the SPSS software, version 21, with a significance level of 0.05, and the descriptive statistics used were the Pearson correlation coefficient and the Chi-square test..
The results showed that 77.7 percent of patients had a low quality of life, 18.2 percent had a moderate quality of life, and only 3.2 percent had a high quality of life. A significant correlation was found between quality of life and the demographic characteristics of age, sex, education level, marital status (P = 0.01) and frequency of admission to the hospital (P = 0.01)..
The results showed that heart failure had a negative impact on the quality of life for patients. Therefore, evaluation and improvement of quality of life for these patients should be considered one of the duties of nurses..

The improvement of self-caring and self-efficacy behaviors is vital in the successful management of asthma..
The aim of the research is to determine the relation between self-efficacy of asthma control and quality of life in Iranian asthmatic patients..
Patients and This research represents a descriptive-analytical study. The 257 asthmatic patients referred to the clinic were selected as the research sample. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire consisting of four parts on personal-social characteristics, the asthma self-efficacy scale (ASES), asthma control questionnaire (ACQ), asthma quality of life questionnaire (AQLQ), and the parameters of spirometry. The data were collected after determining the validity and reliability of the questionnaires and analyzed by applying descriptive and analytical statics..
The results indicated that ASES scores were negatively correlated with ACQ total scores (r = -0.378, P = 0.001) and individual item scores, with the exception of item 7. Moreover, they were positively correlated with the AQLQ total (r = 0.442, P = 0.001) and subscale scores..
The findings of this study showed that having confidence in one’s abilities is related with a better quality of life and control of asthma to control the symptoms..

Many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a type of sleep disorder..
The current study aimed to investigate the effect of implementing a program based on the Orem self-care model on sleep quality of patients with MS..
Patients and Seventy eight patients referred to the multiple sclerosis association of Zahedan city, Iran, enrolled in the current randomized controlled trial conducted in 2015. The demographics form and Pittsburgh sleep quality index were completed by the patients. The selected patients were then randomly allocated into intervention and control groups (n = 39 for each group). An instructional program consisted of nine, 45 minutes sessions was performed in the intervention group. Afterwards, a three-month follow-up was performed after intervention. When the follow-up ended, the two groups completed the Pittsburgh sleep quality index again. Descriptive statistical tests, independent t-test, Chi-square test and paired t-test were used to analyze the data..
Before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups with regard to mean scores of sleep quality (P = 0.22). Both groups reported a significant improvement in sleep quality three months after intervention (P The Orem-based self-care model program can be a useful tool to improve sleep quality of patients with MS. Future studies can be directed to investigate the effects of such interventions on other common problems of patients..

It seems that depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) use can have an effect on a woman’s oral health, and cause periodontal changes in adult women. However, there is little research in this regard and consensus has not been reached in the literature..
This study aimed to investigate the association between DMPA injection and periodontal health in reproductive age women..
This descriptive analytical study was conducted on 194 women aged 20 - 40 years in Ahvaz health care centers, southwest of Iran, during 2015. Ninety-seven women taking DMPA were assigned to the case group and 97 women who did not use DMPA were assigned to the control group. Periodontal parameters such as bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment loss were measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 19 using descriptive and analytic (Chi-square, Mann-Whitney and student’s t-test) statistical methods..
There was a statistically significant difference regarding bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment loss between the case and control groups. Totally, 56.7% of the women in the case group had periodontitis compared to 16.5% in the control group (P Based on our findings, the use of DMPA can affect the periodontal health status of women. Therefore, women who use this method must have a strict oral hygiene care program..

Context: A review of the literature of recent decades has shown that few studies have been conducted on the effects of various types of complementary medicine on patients with leukemia. Therefore, the present study aimed to find research gaps in the use of different types of complementary medicine in patients with leukemia to be applied in future studies..
Evidence Acquisition: The present study was a review-type design based on a review of the literature on different types of complementary medicine in patients with leukemia, up to 2015. The search was conducted through electronic databases and search engines. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 8 studies which had been conducted on the use of complementary medicine in patients with leukemia were selected for the identification of gaps..
The overall results showed that few studies have been conducted on the use of exercise, massage therapy, music therapy, acupressure, and healing touch in patients with leukemia, and these subjects are potential research areas for many different studies. However, no studies have been carried out on the effects of acupuncture, relaxation, and yoga on these patients..
The results of this review showed that the number of studies on the use of complementary medicine in leukemia patients is very limited (especially in Iran), and it can be the subject of numerous studies in the future..

Developments in the use of central venous catheters have improved the treatment of critically ill newborns..
The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the rate of catheter-related complications and associated risk factors in newborns..
Patients and This cross sectional study evaluated 60 infants with indications for central venous catheters who were selected by census from 2007 to 2014 in Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran, Iran. The catheters were Broviac numbers 14 - 16..
Ultimately, 60 cases (17 males and 43 females) with a mean age of 26.25 ± 20.09 days (Min = 1 day and Max = 153 days) underwent analysis. The most common reasons for venous catheter placement (98.3%) were prolonged hospitalization and lack of peripheral vessels. The most common complication was catheter-related infection, which occurred in 20 patients (33.3%). Death occurred in 24 patients (40.0%), but only 3 deaths (5%) were due to complications from the central venous catheter. A significant relationship was evident between infection and catheterization duration (P = 0.02)..
Most of the catheter-related deaths were due to severe sepsis and hemothorax, and a significant relationship was noted between infection and both the mortality rate and catheterization duration. A significant relationship was also evident between birth weight and infection rates..