Epidemiology and Health System Journal
Volume:10 Issue: 1, Winter 2023

 This study aimed to determine the prevalence of morbid thoughts and suicide attempts as well as their relationship with perceived health status, quality of life, and happiness in five low-middle-income countries.

 Data on 3373 men and women aged 40 years and above were collected from the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) survey on five countries: China (830), Ghana (438), India (1602), Russia (175), and South Africa (830). Outcome variables were morbid thoughts and suicide attempts, and the main explanatory variables were health status, quality of life, and happiness.

 The findings indicated that among the five countries, India had the highest prevalence of both morbid thoughts 79.5% (95% CI: 73.4-84.5) and suicide attempts 75.4% (95% CI: 61.0-85.7), while Ghana had the lowest prevalence of both morbid thoughts 1.9% (95% CI: 1.3-2.7) and suicide attempts 2.5% (95% CI: 1.1-5.5). Furthermore, regression analysis revealed a significant association between perceived health, quality of life, and happiness with morbid thoughts and suicide attempts. However, the association between perceived health and happiness was significant only among women. Men and women reporting dissatisfaction with the quality of life had 1.521 times (95% CI: 1.126-2.056) and 1.762 times (95% CI: 1.406-2.209) higher odds of morbid thoughts compared with those who reported satisfaction with the quality of life.

 Perceived poor health, quality of life, and happiness are significantly associated with higher odds of morbid thoughts of suicidal ideation, especially among women. In line with the past findings, these findings support the importance of focusing on these perceived constructs of health and life for mental health promotion and suicide prevention programs.

 Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) has been considered one of the most common serious parasitic diseases. Some cities in Iran are known as the center of this important parasitic disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines CL as an infectious parasitic disease in the tropics, which can be challenging. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiological situation of CL (the identification of parasite, vector, and reservoir) in Ardestan.

 This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was performed in 2015-2016. Overall, 121 patients with CL who referred to Ardestan Dermatology and Leishmaniasis Center were sampled, and the Leishmania species were determined in the samples using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, following the amplification of the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region in the parasite genome. Finally, the vector and reservoir species were detected by zoology experts according to identification keys.

 The incidence of the disease had the highest (57.8%) and lowest (4.1%) levels in summer and spring, respectively. The disease was prevalent in both women and men but was more common in men (51.2%). The majority of patients (27.3%) were in the age group of 21-30 years, and most of the wounds (71.1%) were nodules. More than one wound on the body was observed in 54.5% of patients, and the disease was prevalent in 13.2% of patients and their family members. Occupationally, students showed the highest disease frequency (32%). The response to treatment with meglumine antimoniate (glucantime) was more effective than the other treatments. The species of the Leishmania vector in the Ardestan region was identified as Phlebotomus papatasi, and the species of the reservoirs in this region were Rhombomys opimus and Meriones libycus.

 Further research is needed to determine the carriers and reservoirs of the disease in other regions in order to reach a constructive decision for appropriate strategies to control the disease.

 High-risk neonates (HRNs) included neonates who were born with a weight of less than 1500 g at birth and/or gestational age between 24 and 37 weeks and needed longer intensive medical care. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of developmental disabilities among 5-year-old children that were HRNs in the neonatal period.

 In a historical cohort study, 120 five-year-old children were included and divided into two groups of 60 eligible children in the exposed and control groups. They were born as HRNs in 2016 and admitted to the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). After stabilization of their general condition, the infants in the exposed group were discharged and received home care (HC) services, but the control group received long-time care in NICU and did not receive HC services. They were evaluated in terms of developmental domains including vision, hearing, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, communication, problem-solving, and personal and social affairs. The developmental screening was done using the Ages and Stages questionnaire (ASQ).

 A total of 61 (50.83%) children were classified as suspected cases of developmental disabilities. There was no significant difference between the exposed and control children in the total frequency of developmental disability (P=0.1). A significant difference was seen only in the problem-solving domain between the exposed and control groups (P=0.043).

 There were no significant statistical differences in most dimensions of developmental disabilities (except for the problem-solving domain) between the exposed and control children.

 Since one of the most important methods of preventing the transmission of COVID-19 is wearing a mask, the present research was conducted to clarify the reasons for avoiding wearing a face mask by some people during the coronavirus outbreak.

 This is a qualitative content analysis study. In this study, 45 people from the cities of Evaz, Lar, and Gerash participated and were interviewed. The interview method was semi-structured, and the participants were selected based on purposive sampling. The collected data were analyzed by the conventional approach of the qualitative study.

 The participants of this study consisted of 45 individuals. The mean age of the samples was 41.89±12.88 years. A total of 30 themes were extracted during the qualitative content analysis and then divided into 6 categories, including personal, social, cultural, environmental, economic, and physical factors.

 According to the findings of this study, the factors influencing the lack of tendency to wear masks by people in the COVID-19 epidemic period are numerous and interact with each other. Therefore, for encouraging people to perform such protective behavior during the coronavirus epidemic, it is necessary to consider individual, social, environmental, economic, and physical factors together.

 The emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become one of the greatest health problems of the 21st century. The current study was conducted to investigate COVID-19’s clinical manifestation, mortality factors, and their association with each other during the three devastating waves of the pandemic in Razavi-Khorasan province, Iran.

 This cross-sectional epidemiological population-based study was performed in Razavi-Khorasan province, Iran from January 21, 2020, to March 20, 2021. The data, including demographic characteristics and clinical presentations of the patients, were extracted from the Medical Care Monitoring System (MCMS), disease management portal in the Deputy of Health and hospital information system (HIS) of the medical universities/faculties of the province.

 Overall, 80499 patients were admitted to all hospitals of Khorasan-Razavi with the laboratory/ clinical COVID-19 confirmed disease. The male-to-female ratio and the mean age of our COVID-19 individuals were 1.10:1 and 55.67±23.27, respectively. The most frequently reported presenting symptoms in histories provided at the admission time were respiratory distress (58.2%), fever (36.7%), and cough (34.9%), while the less common ones were abdominal pain (2.7%) and alternation in smell/ taste (0.9%). Male gender (odds ratio [OR]=1.32, P<0.001), age over 60 (OR=2.59, P<0.001), and presence of at least one comorbidity (OR=1.32, P<0.001) were significantly associated with higher mortality rates.

 Healthcare providers and public health managers can benefit from the findings of this study to detect and emphasize patients with poor prognoses.

 Concomitant carotid artery disease (CaAD) in patients referred to coronary surgical revascularization is a strong hazard to perioperative stroke. The current study addressed the epidemiology features of concomitant CaAD in patients referred to a coronary surgical revascularization center.

 This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on all incoming patients to coronary surgical revascularization for two years at a single center who underwent a color duplex-sonography (CDS) interrogation. The demographic, clinical, echocardiographic, coronary angiographic, and color duplex-sonographic data were collected from patients’ medical records. Quantitative and qualitative data were expressed as means and standard deviations, as well as numbers and percentages, respectively. The relationships between quantitative and qualitative variables were investigated using Pearson’s correlation and chi-square test, respectively.

 In total, 430 patients with a mean age of 66.3±9.9 years were included (35% females) in the study. Preoperative CDS was performed on 82% of patients; in addition, 29% of them presented with an increased intima-media ratio, and CtAD was observed in 51%. Based on the results, 77 and 143 patients were detected with unilateral and bilateral involvement, respectively. Severe carotid stenosis accounted for 4% of patients. Age older than 65 years (P=0.02), unstable angina (P=0.045), and the presence of an occluded coronary artery (P=0.002) were associated with the presence of CtAD. Finally, the severity of the left and right carotid stenosis was associated with diabetes mellitus (P<0.05).

 The prevalence of concomitant CtAD in patients referred to coronary surgical revascularization remains high. The current data warn of the necessity of performing preoperative CDS routinely.

 Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The impact of NCDs on working adults extends beyond ill health and mortality with large financial consequences; however, the distribution of NCD risk factors in working adults is understudied. Therefore, this study aimed to find out the magnitude of NCD risk factors in Bangladeshi working adults.

 This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2011 among 410 working adults aged between 35 to 60 years who were selected purposively and residing in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data were collected on socio-demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors. We used mean (standard deviation) or median (interquartile range) for continuous variables and frequency and percentages for categorical variables. We performed inferential statistics to investigate the determinants of hypertension.

 The mean age of the participants was 43.4±6.9 years, and about one-fourth of the participants (24.7%) were current smokers. Smokeless tobacco consumption was moderate (16.5%), and alcoholic beverage intake was rare (3%). The majority of the participants (78%) reported insufficient physical activity. Furthermore, almost all participants had a history of inadequate fruit and vegetable intake (99.8% and 98.8%, respectively), and almost half of the participants (48.0%) were overweight. Moreover, age, occupation, physical activity, and education were significantly different (P<0.05) among hypertensive and non-hypertensive groups.

 The results indicated a high proportion of NCD risk factors among working adults living in the capital city of Bangladesh. We believe that the findings of this study will bolster existing and future efforts to prevent NCDs in the working adult population.