Health and Development Journal
Volume:11 Issue: 4, Autumn 2022

The commencement of COVID-19 vaccination has had an impact on hospitalizations and deaths of patients. This study aims to investigate the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on children›s hospitalizations and deaths.  This cross-sectional study examined 893 children infected with COVID-19 referred to Imam Khomeini hospital in Jiroft City in the south of Iran in 2022. Data collected and analyzed included demographic variables including age, sex, place of residence, underlying disease, vaccination status, injection dose of vaccine, history of contact with a patient with COVID-19, and clinical and laboratory characteristics such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell (WBC), creatinine (CR) and days of hospitalization. The data were analyzed using SPSS-v20 software. The average age±SD of the patients is 4.6±3.9 years. There were 302 (33.81%) children in the age group of 9 to 12 years and 133 (14.89%) of children were in the age group under one year. The most common clinical symptoms in children with COVID-19 were fever (67.41%), diarrhea (38.63%), and cough (30.57%). ESR and CRP were 27.72±20.8, and 25.51±32.8 respectively amongst the participants. Out of 893 children, 480 (53.75%) were vaccinated and 413 (46.24%) had not received the vaccine. Out of 480 vaccinated children, 460 (95.83%) were outpatient, and only 20 (4.16%) were hospitalized, and out of 413 non-vaccinated children, 241 (58.35%) were outpatient, and 172 (41.64%) were hospitalized. The results showed that vaccination led to a 95.83% reduction in hospitalization and a 100% reduction in long-term hospitalization. The COVID-19 vaccination is very effective in preventing the harmful effects of COVID-19 in future trends and pandemics.

Pandemics affect patients’ access to diagnostic and treatment services. As cancer patients need regular follow-up, any obstacle in accessing services can affect the conditions of these patients. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer patients’ access to diagnostic and treatment services. In this qualitative study, 15 people were selected through a targeted sampling method among the patients who were referred to cancer treatment centers in Kerman. The interviews were semi-structured and face-to-face and were conducted in April 2021. The data were analyzed using directed content analysis. Among the people included in this study, 10 (66.7%) were women and more than half of the investigated people were in the 36 to 55 years age group (53.3%). These patients faced challenges including delay in treatment, mental and psychologicalproblems, financial problems, and delay in COVID-19 vaccination. Various challenges and factors play a role in cancer patients’ access to diagnostic and treatment services during the pandemic. Therefore, more physical space should be allocated to them in treatment environments to reassure them and facilitate their timely referral to doctors. In addition, psychiatric consultations to identify the problems of cancer patients and regular follow-up of these patients can reduce their problems during pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were praised as the main heroes of the fight against the disease, but pandemic conditions affected the balance between their work and family responsibilities. To this end, the present study aimed to explore the incidence of work-family conflict in nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at COVID-19 referral hospitals in Mazandaran Province, Iran, in 2021. The participants were 200 nurses who were selected using convenience and purposive sampling. The data were collected using the Work-Family Conflict Scale (WAFCS), which was distributed and completed online. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS-16 software using descriptive and inferential statistics. Most of the participants were working as nurses for an average of seven years and had been caring for COVID-19 patients for at least 4-6 months until the time of data collection. The mean work-family conflict score was 78.80±1.1. The data also showed that the severity of work interference with family (WIF) in both time and strain dimensions (83.81±0.3) was significantly higher than the severity of family interference with work (FIW) (65.90±0.3) in these two dimensions.  Nurses faced an imbalance between work and family functions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since nurses are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, it is necessary to pay special attention to their working conditions and family life. Moreover, effective and practical solutions should be provided by managers to resolve work-family challenges.

Tuberculosis (TB) primarily targets the lungs and stands as the leading cause of death globally among diseases caused by a single agent. It is estimated that one-third of the world›s population is infected with TB. This study was undertaken due to the significant presence and incidence of TB in Zabol, an endemic city in Iran. We examined patient records (n=4092) spanning from 2006 to 2014, analyzing the data using SPSS. The Kaplan-Meier model was employed to assess patient survival rates, the Cox regression model helped identify factors affecting survival and mortality, and the classic Mantel-Haenszel method was utilized to calculate the mortality rate. The patients’ mean age was 53.97 years, with a standard deviation of 20.55. Females comprised 59.78% of the study population, and 84.93% of the TB cases were pulmonary. Furthermore, 89.85% of the patients underwent successful treatment. Throughout the study period, there were 240 recorded deaths among TB patients. The average survival duration for patients was 2638 days, with a five-year survival rate of 75%. An increase in age every 10 years significantly raised the risk of death among TB patients (P<0.05). However, no significant impact on patient survival was observed in relation to other variables, such as gender, history of recurrence, treatment delay, place of conflict, residency, and nationality. The findings of this study can provide useful information so that planners and health officials can take effective measures with appropriate interventions in order to diagnose the disease faster and follow up with appropriate treatment.

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Pilates exercises on emotion regulation and distress tol89erance in female students with premenstrual syndrome (PMS).  The present study used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a nonequivalent control group. The research population consisted of female students with PMS at the Islamic Azad University of Doroud during the academic year of 2021-2022. A convenience sampling method was employed, and 30 individuals were selected and randomly assigned to either the Pilates or control group. The research tools included the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST), Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). These tools were administered to both the Pilates group and the control group in 3 stages: pretest, posttest, and follow-up. Pilates exercises were taught to the Pilates group by a professional instructor at the university gymnasium. Data analysis for this study was conducted using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS version 22. The findings showed that considering P≤0.05, there were significant changes in the variable of emotion regulation. In the Pilates group, the mean score of the emotion suppression subscale increased from 12 in the pretest to 15.33 in the posttest and16.8 in the follow-up. Similarly, the mean score of the emotion reappraisal subscale increased from 22.4 in the pretest to 26.26 in the posttest and 26.06 in the follow-up. Additionally, the distress tolerance in the Pilates group showed an increase from 40.93 in the pretest to 47.06 in the posttest and 47 in the follow-up. Pilates exercise has an effective role in improving emotion regulation and distress tolerance in female students with PMS.

Food security has always been emphasized as a primary goal of sustainable development policies. Events, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, climate change, wars, and unjust (cruel) sanctions against countries threaten global food security. Therefore, considering the importance of nutrition and food consumption in budget planning and household shopping, we indirectly examined the cost of providing an optimal food basket for the Iranian community, in total and by separating its components based on the average price of selected food items in urban areas from year 1399-1401 in the Solar Hijri calendar (2020 to 2022).

In this cross-sectional costing study, the country’s desired food basket was used as a reference for cost measurement of an acceptable food basket, and information on food prices and household expenses was obtained from the Statistical Center of Iran and the Central Bank. The cost of providing an optimal food basket for the Iranian community, in total and for each component, was calculated for an individual and a family of four. After extracting the cost information of providing an optimalfood basket in these three years, the data were compared and analyzed to study the trend.

Based on the costs of providing an optimal household basket, the average food cost for a family of four in 1399 (2020-2021) was about 3.2 million Tomans, which increased by 27% to 4.365 million Tomans in 1400 (2021-2022), and in 1401 (October 2022), it reached 6.785 million Tomans, a 35% increase compared to 1400 (2021-2022).

It is suggested to support vulnerable groups and target subsidies according to different income levels. The salaries and wages should be revised in line with inflation food prices and household expenses, and also policymakers and planners are suggested to monitor the prices