محمد اسماعیل مطلق

This report was a part of the National Food and Nutrition Surveillance Program, analyzing anthropometric statuses of children aged 24–60 m in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, as well as their associated demographic and socioeconomic determinants, 1401.

A total of 280 children aged 24–60 m were included in the study via multi-stage cluster random sampling proportional to cluster size method. Data on socioeconomic status of the household and demographic characteristics of the children were collected by health workers using face-to-face interviews with the mother/caregiver of the children. Necessary training to carry out anthropometric measurements was provided to the health workers through several workshops and webinars. Descriptive and analytical analyses were carried out using STATA v.17.0 (Stata, College Station TX, USA).

  The mean age of the studied children was 41.9 m ±0.6 with similar gender distribution (141 girls and 142 boys). Analyses showed that socioeconomic status was the most important determinant of stunting and underweight in children aged 24–60 m in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Chances of being stunt and underweight in children, who were living in higher socioeconomic status, were respectively 60 and 80% lower than children whose families were in lower socioeconomic statuses.

Evidence indicate need of rapid intervention, including enhancement of access and purchasing power of the households living in the province and possibly  other deprived provinces of the country.

Climate change on the earth is changing faster than ever before in the history. Cities are highly vulnerable to this climate change. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate climate change in the metropolis of Tehran during the period 1991-2020 and help understand the limitations that cities may have in confronting climate change.

This descriptive-analytical study was performed based on the information obtained from the synoptic stations in the Tehran metropolis. First the relevant indicators were determined based on the opinions of experts and the existing literature, followed by analyzing the descriptive and analytical data on climate using the EXCEL-2016 software. Finally, based on reviewing the studies in the literature and analysis of climate data in the metropolis of Tehran, a single protocol was arrived at to study climate change in the city (microclimate) and how to reduce, and adapt with, the impacts of climate change in cities.

Analysis of the data showed that the metropolis of Tehran had been facing an increase in temperature and a decrease in humidity over the preceding 30 years. The average monthly temperature increase and humidity decrease had been about 1.5° C and nearly 15%, respectively.

Tehran metropolis is faced with an increase in temperature and a decrease in humidity levels, the intensity of both of which will further increase in the future. Dense urban population areas will experience more intense climate change due to the formation of heat islands. To deal with this problem urban planners must consider urban socio-economic development in the context of adapting to climate change and reducing its impacts in various urban areas.

High blood pressure is one of the common main preventable risk factors for many diseases. This study aimed to psychometric properties of the cognitive determinants of hypertension self-management questionnaire among Iranian hypertensive patients based on the Intervention Mapping approach.

This psychometric study was conducted in Abadan in 2019. Content Validity Ratio and Content Validity Index of the questionnaire were calculated by ten hypertensive patients and 12 experts. Construct validity was investigated using Classical Item Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis by the participation of 315 hypertensive patients. The internal consistency was measured by using Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha of the various cognitive determinants of the questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16.

The mean age of patients was 57.53±11.30 years, ranging from 30 to 70 years. Five factors (attitude, outcome expectation, self-efficacy, subjective norms, and barriers) and behavior were confirmed. The Kaiser-Meyer Olkin test was generally satisfactory (calculated: 0.817). The factors explained 61.86% of the variance of the hypothesized model. Estimated reliability using alpha Cronbach coefficient for each cognitive determinants were as follows: attitude (α=0.75), outcome expectations (α=0.79), self-efficacy (α=0.80), subjective norms (α=0.85), barriers (α=0.88), behavior (α=0.82).

The application of the intervention mapping approach in questionnaire development offers a useful questionnaire to measurement self-management hypertension behaviors, and psychometric analysis shows that it could be useful for related planning programs.

Creating and developing work teams is one of the ways to deal with the challenges of specialization and performance improvement. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the passive defense committee of Iranian Medical Universities/Colleges from the viewpoints of affiliated workgroup members.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in winter 2018. The research population consisted of Iranian universities of medical sciences, which were randomly selected from 20 universities. Available members of affiliated workgroups were interviewed at selected universities. The data were collected and evaluated using a researcher-made questionnaire including two parts of individual variables, and function of the committee using 34 open-ended and closed-ended questions. Data were analyzed by SPSS-23 software using Chi-square, Kendalls, Spearman, independent t-test and ANOVA.

Of the 210 members studied, 70.9% were male. Average work experience and working time in teamwork were 18.34±7.7 and 2.6±2.1 years. Out of 5 points, the average performance of the Passive Defense Secretariat for the implementation of the approvals was 2.71±0.9, in the creation and development of related infrastructure 2.83±1.0, in the optimal use of existing capacities 2.71±0.9. The average overall performance of the passive defense committee was at least 2.19±0.41 to a maximum of 3.52±0.58 and in a total of 18 universities 3.01±0.7. The average effectiveness of the actions and activities of the passive defense committee was at least 2.17 ± 0.37 to a maximum of 3.48±0.72 and in a total of 18 universities 2.72±0.9. There was no significant relationship between individual and organizational variables of the persons studied and overall functioning of the Secretariat, overall functioning and effectiveness of passive defense committee (P<0.05).

This study showed that the function of the passive defense committee of Iranian medical universities was moderate level. Design and implementation of intervention programs are necessary.

High concentrations of particulate matter-25 (PM2.5) have been the cause of the unhealthiest days in Tehran, Iran in recent years. This study was conducted with the aim of the spatio-temporal analysis of traffic volume and its relationship with PM2.5 pollutant concentrations in Tehran metropolis, Tehran during 2015-2018, using the Geographic Information System (GIS).

In this study in different regions of Tehran, the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) model was used for prediction and zoning of the PM2.5 concentrations and traffic volume during the period 2015-2018. In addition, the association between the PM2.5 concentrations and traffic volume was determined based on the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model.

The findings showed that the southern and southwestern regions of Tehran had the highest PM2.5 pollutant concentration (annual average more than 40 μg/m3), while the eastern and northern regions had the highest traffic volume. In addition, based on the GWR model, the eastern regions were found to have the highest local R2 values (between 0.36 and 0.70).

In most regions of Tehran, no strong association can be found between high concentrations of PM2.5 and traffic volume. However, based on the findings of this study we cannot reject the relationship between traffic volume and PM2.5 pollutant but postulate other sources to be the main reason for the high concentrations of PM2.5. Thus, in the first step, these sources should be identified, followed by adopting strategies for traffic volume control and reduction aiming at having a cleaner air in Tehran.

Hospitals are faced different conditions for effective management of crises and disasters. The current study aimed to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats from the viewpoints of the members of the disaster management committee (DMC) of Iran’s public hospitals.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. The study population was Iranian public hospitals, of which 20 were randomly selected based on spatial planning. We interviewed members of DMC of 87 public hospitals. Data were collected using a 17-item researcher-made questionnaire that included two sections of individual variables, and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The questionnaire contained both open and closed-ended questions. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 23.

A total of 347 members were interviewed. In total, 3 524 items were extracted, which 784 (22.2%) were strength, 717 (20.3%) weakness, 344 (9.8%) opportunity, 649 (18.4%) threat, and 1030 (29.2%) solutions. There was a significant association between the city of work, years of experience as a committee member, the number of active beds, area of study, gender, age, occupation, type of hospital, and the total number of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and related solutions (P<0.05).

This study demonstrated that, concerning crisis and disaster management, Iranian public hospitals, while having strengths and opportunities, are faced several challenges and threats. Hence, there is a need to design and implement appropriate intervention programs.

Benchmarking is one of the superior methods and processes for performance and organizational improvement. This study was conducted to determine benchmarking rate of disaster management committee members in Iranian public hospitals in effective disaster response.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. The research community was Iranian public hospitals that were randomly selected based on spatial planning. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire including two parts of individual variables, and amount and technique of benchmarking using 14 open-ended and closed-ended questions. The data were analyzed by SPSS-23 software.

Out of 410 members available from the hospital crisis and disaster management committee who were studied, 103 persons (25.1%) had from 1 to 8 benchmarking cases during the period of cooperation with this committee, and a total of 237 cases of benchmarking were recorded. Thus, the mean number of benchmarking cases was 0.58±1.2. Thus, the mean score of benchmarking was 0.58±1.2. There was a significant relationship among the number of benchmarking cases and the duration of cooperation in the Disaster Management Committee (P=0.001 & r=+0.177), the number of active beds in the hospital (P=0.024 & r=+0.117), educational level (P=0.029 & r=+0.109), and the city of hospital (28.4% in metropolitan areas and 15.9% in non-metropolitan areas) (P=0.010).

This study showed that benchmarking rate per capita among the studied members was in a lower level compared to other similar studies. Therefore, it is suggested that appropriate intervention programs be designed and implemented.

Prenatal care is an important strategy for achieving reproductive health. Despite the importance of maternity care in maternal health, some mothers are not adequately cared for. The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization (APNCU) Index in the first level of network system in Iran.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in six provinces of Iran in 2016. Mothers whose date of delivery was 2-6 months before the study were randomly selected. Data were collected using a researcher-made checklist and questionnaire containing 34 personal, family-related and environmental questions and 23 prenatal care-related questions based on health records and interviews with mothers and samples were divided into four groups according to the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization index: 1: inadequate (less than 50% of expected care), 2: intermediate (50-79%), 3: adequate (80-109%), 4: adequate plus (110% and more), and the results were analyzed.

Among 2655 studied mothers, the mean of total care during pregnancy was 6.43±1.7 times and according to the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization index, 121 (4.6%) mothers had inadequate care, 603 (22.7%) mothers had intermediate, 1648 (62.1%) mothers had adequate and 283 (10.7%) mothers had adequate plus care. There was a significant relationship between the risk of maternal mortality in each province, urban population, prenatal care, time of first pregnancy care, maternal age, spouse s participation and education level, and adequacy of prenatal care (p<0.05).

This study showed that the adequacy of prenatal care, although influenced by social and personal factors, is at an appropriate level.

Managers and experts training is one of the areas of creation and development infrastructure of passive defense in health system organizations including hospitals. This study was conducted to assess the educational needs of disaster management committee members in Iranian public hospitals for passive defense.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. The study environment population was hospitals covered by medical universities  that were randomly selected based territorial preparation  and study population was disaster management committee members  that were selected as a census. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire including two parts of individual variables, and 15 closed-ended questions for passive defense. The data were analyzed by SPSS 23 software.

Of the 410 members of the hospital crisis and disaster management committee who were studied, the need for education in all subjects was above average. The mean of total educational needs was 3.95±0.79. The highest level of need (4.17±0.9) for non-structural safety assessment and the lowest level of need (3.70±1.2)  for soft defense. Managers and experts in Lorestan University of Medical Sciences declared the highest need (4.25±0.6) and in Esfarain Medical School the lowest need (3.34±1.2). There was a significant relationship between total educational needs and gender, field of study, unit of work and occupation (p<0.05).

This study showed that most of managers and experts need to be trained on passive defense issues. Therefore, it is suggested that educational interventions be designed and implemented.

The arrival of a stormy and fertile air front and heavy rainfall covered the Islamic Republic of Iran from March 17, 2019 to mid-April 2019. Relief work was carried out in order to monitor (control) this great tragedy during a comprehensive national mobilization with the participation of the people, rescue and treatment organizations, the people's mobilization forces and the country's armed forces. The decisive, vital and crucial role of the Armed Forces in this study has been considered as an inescapable necessity to draw and institutionalize this role for the future events of the country. The data set of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education was used to prepare this analytical report and the content library was prepared by adding a study. 21 provinces, including 256 cities were affected by torrential rains. 3444 towns and villages were damaged by this pervasive natural disaster. 2193 people were injured and 85 people unfortunately lost their lives. 42296129 people (more than half of the country's population) were affected by this great natural disaster, more than 355000 people became homeless and more than 1600000 people needed health services that received these services. Outbreaks, epidemics, emerging and re-emerging diseases were not observed in any of the areas. Extensive presence of the Armed Forces and utilization of extensive logistics and engineering facilities and a wide range of human resources, along with responsible organizations and the People's Forces and Basij, to monitor the greatest flood in the contemporary history of the country, drastically reduce casualties and The devastation caused by the floods and the provision of vital relief and medical services to the people affected by this great natural disaster helped greatly. The general public expects the armed forces to rush to their aid in crises. Along with maintaining the inherent duty of national security and national peace, institutionalizing the presence and organized participation of the armed forces in crisis management will be a great support for dealing with natural and man-made disasters in the future.

Unhealthy lifestyle ends to some important health problems in adolescence, and also causes chronic non-communicable disease, hence increasing mortality and morbidity in adults.
The aim of this study was to examine the components of lifestyle in adolescence.
In this cross sectional study, 346 male and 197 female of adolescents aged 9 to 16 years were selected randomly from the 5th district of Tehran city in 2011. Data were gathered from the lifestyle questionnaires which were designed and consistent with the findings of studies. Questionnaire has the dimensions of nutrition and energy drink consumption, exercise, and sleep patterns. The data were analyzed by the chi-square and t-test.
Findings: 142 (72%) of girls and 260 (77%) of boys consumed daily dairy. Daily and weekly fast food intakes in girls were 8 (4.1%) and 52 (26.4%), while in the boys were 36 (10.4%) and 110(31.8%) respectively. Totally, more than 149 (75%) of girls and 295 (86%) of boys consumed soda. 17 (8.6%) of girls and 59 (17.1%) of teenage boys consumed energetic drink at least once a week. Adolescent girls and boys had a physical activity on average 3.2 and 4.2 days respectively in gymnasium in a week.
According to the results, correction of nutritional behaviors is a mandatory task. In addition due to the trends of adolescence toward doing exercise in public places, the policy for the equipping of public place and gyms should be reconsidered in our society.

Satisfaction of health care recipients is always considered by policy makers and implementers as an indicator of measuring the quality and determining the effectiveness of services. This study aimed to determine the satisfaction of mothers from first level of Iranian network system.
This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the incidence of maternal mortality in six provinces of Iran in 2015. Twenty-four public health centers were randomly stratified and selected. In each center, 15 to 20 mothers who were covered by prenatal care were examined. The data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed, interviews with mothers, and their medical records. SPSS version 17 was used for analysis. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Of 2722 mothers participating in the study, 2187 (80.3%) were satisfied with the condition and facilities of health units and service providers and 535 (19.7%) were dissatisfied. The highest level of satisfaction in mothers was observed in the areas of behavior, complete services, training of health professionals, and adequacy of pharmaceutical products while the lowest level of satisfaction was related to the adequacy of the medical education and the distance between the health unit and home. There was a significant relationship between 16 demographic variables and maternal satisfaction (P This study showed that about one fifth of pregnant mothers are still not satisfied with the first level of network systems in Iran and many factors have an impact on their satisfaction. It is recommended to design and implement interventional programs to increase their satisfaction.

Academic self-efficacy defined as perception of ability to do the tasks necessary to achieve the educational goals. Students with higher academic self-efficacy have better educational adaptability and more beneficial learning strategies. The aim of this study was to determine the academic self-efficacy and its relationship with academic variables among Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences students.
This cross-sectional study conducted among 370 of student Kermanshah University of medical sciences in 2016. Students selected in random simple sampling with probability proportional to size, and data were collected by self-report with using academic self-efficacy of McElroy questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS-16 using Pearson correlation, t-test and linear regression analyses.
The age range of the students was 18 to 29 and the mean was 22.99 ± 3.35 years. The mean of academic self-efficacy was 53.10±7.40. The student gained 75.8% of the maximum score of academic self-efficacy. Higher age, married, not living in dormitory and educational level (MD students) were significant predictors of higher level of academic self-efficacy.
The planning an effective intervention to promote self-academic, especially for undergraduate students are necessity.

This article describes the trend of Iran’s TFR and its components, from 1991 to 2011, in a multivariate analysis based on the variables such as residence, education level, employment status and the amenities condition. Since in this period of time, Iran experienced one of the rapidest fertility transition in the world, applying the new method such as the multivariate analysis of Iran’s fertility rates could provide a more profound understanding of the mechanism of changes in this considerable time span of Iranian fertility transition.
The raw data from the 2011 population and housing census 2% file is used in this study and the four quinquennial fertility changes, 1991-1996,1996-2001, 2001-2006 & 2006-2011, have been investigated by regarding the socioeconomic variables. The results represent as fertility rates decreased, the effects of socioeconomic variables on explaining the different fertility indicators, including the probability of transition to the next child, had been reduced. In spite of this fact, the parity progression ratios in general and the PPR of having more than one child in particular, are still affected by the socioeconomic variables. Furthermore, the findings could be shown the urban, educated, employed and high-class women were the pioneers of delayed childbearing and the birth spacing.

Communication skills as an essential part in providing nursing care and ineffective communication consider as a powerful barrier to health care. The aimed of this study was to determine the status of nursing student's communication skills.
This cross-sectional study was done on 200 nursing students that were selected through convenience sampling at Kermanshah university of medical sciences in 2015. Data collection tools were standardized questionnaire including demographic and self-assessment student’s communication skills with patients. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and analytical statistics (Chi-square, and Pearson correlation), at 0.05 significance level through SPSS.
54.3% of students were female, 13.1% married and 79.4% native to Kermanshah province. 85.1% and 14.9% of students had poor and average communication skills respectively. Findings show that there is significant relationship between gender (p According to the results, the communication skills was poor among students and the most weakness of communication skills related to verbal and non verbal skills and respect for the client. This weakness can be barrier for effective communication of nursing students with the patients.

Background and Nowadays, increasing body mass index (BMI) in adolescents that is caused by different factors is a major health threat in communities. This study aimed to determine the BMI of students and associated factors in 5 Iranian ethnic groups.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in high school students aged 12-14 years, from 5 ethnic groups, including Arab, Kurd, Sistani/Baluchi, Turk, and Turkaman. They were selected through random stratified sampling in winter 2015. Data was collected via a questionnaire containing open and closed questions in three sections: demographic, contextual, and dependent variables. The students were classified into four categories: underweight, normal, overweight, and obese according to their BMI. Data analysis was then conducted in SPSS18.
A total of 2444 students was studied of whom 51.9% were females and 56.9% lived in urban areas. The mean BMI of students was 19.7±3.9 kg/m2 and 24.2% were overweight and obese. The highest and lowest rates of overweight and obesity were found in Arabs and Sistani/Baluchi, respectively. In this study, the relationships between BMI and 25 variables were investigated. We observed significant relationships between BMI and ethnicity, having a family car, maternal diabetes, number of children, type of birth, physiological maturity and how to travel between home and school (P According to this study, the BMI in almost a quarter of the students was higher than the normal range. Some personal and family factors could increase students’ BMI. Therefore, interventions to screen and control the BMI in students are needed.

During recent years fertility rate is decreasing in Iran. This study aimed to assess reasons for fertility desire and disinterest among Iranian married adults.
This was a population-based study. A sample of married individuals living in all 31 provinces in Iran enteed into the study and were asked whether they intend to have a child at present. Participants were interviewed via a structured questionnaire including items on socio-demographic and reproductive information. Participants were asked to indicate reasons for desire or disinterest for fertility. Participants were free to name several reasons as they wish. Descriptive analysis was used to explore the data.
In all 20935 individuals (10388 male and 10547 female) were interviewed. The mean age of participants was 36.28 (SD= 8.23) years. Overall 31.8% of respondents indicated that they wish to have a child while the remaining 68.2 said that they did not. The most important reason for fertility desire was interest in having children (93.5%), followed by wish to experience parenthood (92.2%). The most important reason for disinterest for fertility was worryness about the future of a new child (76.1%) followed by economic problems (71.0%).
The findings suggest that willingness to experience parenthood and economic hardship are the most common reasons for fertility desire or fertility disinterest respectively. Perhaps interventions aiming to focus on joyful parenhood experiences might be helpful to encourgare young couples for having children.

According to the important role of youth people in the society, assessment of their health and self-care needs is central for future planning. Therefore, this study aimed to determine and prioritize youth's health needs and self-care capabilities in some selected provinces of Iran.
This survey was conducted among 6640 young people, aged 18 to 29 years whom selected through cluster sampling method from 5 provinces of Khorasan-Razavi, Tehran, Khuzestan, Kermanshah and Gilan in Iran. Youth's information was collected by the questionnaires of Health Status (HS) and Self-care Capabilities (SCC). To analyze the data SPSSv.18 was used. All descriptive statistics were reported as mean and standard deviation (SD). In doing statistical tests, p-values less than 0.05 were considered as significant.
Based on the average score, three main needs, of the young people were including of the need to be trained regarding life skills (9.7±3.52), social health (9.2±4) and Choice of spouse skills (9.1±3.7). Need for Periodic checkups was the first priority need in the domain of health service needs (2.6±0.61). Youth's priorities for health promotion were counseling need for marriage (5.2±1.99) and social communication skills (5±1.92). Radio, television and family were reported as the main methods in training the youth.
Development of programs to meet the youth's fundamental requirements accordance with their educational needs priorities is necessary. Expanding advisory services to improve youth health skills is proposed as well.

During recent years fertility rate is decreasing in Iran. This study aimed to assess fertility desire, its correlates and reasons for fertility desire or fertility disinterest among Iranians.
This was a population-based study. A sample of married individuals living in all 32 provinces in Iran were asked whether they intend to have a child at present. Participants were interviewed via a structured questionnaire including items on socio-demographic and reproductive information. Participants also were asked to indicate reasons for desire or disinterest for fertility. Participants were free to name several reasons as they wish. Descriptive analysis was used to explore the data. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between fertility desire and independent variables.
In all 20935 individuals (10388 male and 10547 female) were interviewed. The mean age of participants was 36.28 (SD= 8.23) years. Overall 31.8% of the respondents indicated that they wish to have a child while the remaining 68.2 said that they did not. The most important reason for fertility desire was interest in having children (93.5%), followed by wish to experience parenthood (92.2%). The most important reason for disinterest was worry about the future of a new child (76.1%) followed by economic limitations (71.0%).
The results obtained from logistic regression analysis showed that infertility disinterest was significantly associated with older age [OR= 1.10, 95% CI(1.09-1.11 )], younger age at marriage [OR= 0.93, 95% CI(0.92-0.94)], female gender [OR= 1.44, 95% CI(1.24-1.67)], having more children at present [OR= 1.88, 95% CI(1.79-1.98)], lower number of abortion and stillbirth [OR= 0.86, 95% CI(0.82-0.92)] and living in urban areas [OR= 1.36, 95% CI(1.26-1.47)].
The findings suggest that willingness to experience parenthood and economic hardship are the most common reasons for fertility desire or fertility disinterest. The findings might help policy makers to implement appropriate interventions if they wish to improve population growth rate for the country.

Elderly people need more receiving health services. Planning to provide services at regional and national levels requires information about the health status of the elderly. This study was performed to assess the health status of East Azarbaijan province.
In this cross-sectional study, 436 subjects were enrolled (180 men and 258 women) aged ≥ 60 years using multi-level proportioned cluster Random sampling from 19 cities of the province.
Data was collected by a demographic questionnaire , measuring anthropometric characteristics, and blood pressure and using "Mini Nutritional Assessment" ,”Geriatric Depression Scale-15 ", “Katz’s Activity of daily living”, and "Lawton’s Instrumental activities of daily living”.
The mean age of the participants was 69.31 years. The self-reported prevalence of diabetes was 34.2%. The prevalence of hypertension in the elderly was 52.5%. The most common complaint of the participants was pain (60.9%). Totally, 46.9% had a difficulty in walking, 44.3% visually impaired, and 26.4% suffered from hearing impairment. Moreover, 44.8% of sleep disorders was found. Also 26% of the participants had depressed mood.
Elderly residents of East Azerbaijan province, has probably a better health status than the average Iranian elderly. However, there is a high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among older adults of this province that need to more pay attention.

Alborz Province is one of the provinces that accepted immigrants. Immigration has a profound effect on physical and mental health in elderly. This study was performed to assess the health status of Alborz province older population.
In this cross-sectional study, 235 subjects were enrolled (113 men and 122 women) aged ≥ 60 years using multi-level proportionated cluster random sampling that selected from 19 cities of this province. Data was collected by a demographic questionnaire, measuring anthropometric characteristics, and blood pressure and using "Mini Nutritional Assessment", ”Geriatric Depression Scale-15 ", “Katz’s Activity of daily living”, and "Lawton’s Instrumental activities of daily living”. Data was analyzed with spss21.
The mean age of the participants was 68 (6. 00) years. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among the participants was as٪ 51. 5 and 34٪, respectively. At risk or malnutrition was observed in 27٪ of the participants and ٪ 54. 5 had suffered dental problems and ٪ 49. 8 also had problem in walking.
Overall, the health status of elderly people in the Alborz, perhaps slightly better than the national average, but the high prevalence of metabolic disorders also the high prevalence of depression and anxiety require serious intervention by policy makers to promote the health in elderly.

Background and Violence against women is considered a form of domestic violence. During pregnancy it could cause a range of adverse outcomes for mother and baby. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of violence against women during pregnancy and postpartum and its related factors.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on the incidence of maternal mortality in 2015 in six provinces in Iran. In each province 24 public health centers were selected using stratified random sampling. In each center, 15-20 mothers who had at least one session of prenatal care were examined. Data was collected simultaneously from the records available in health centers and interviewing the mothers, then analyzed in SPSS18 at a significance level of α Among 2704 mothers participating in the study, the prevalence of physical violence during pregnancy and postpartum was 8.10% and 28% suffered from psychological violence. Among 31 variables studied, 10 had a significant relationship with both physical abuse and psychological violence (P>0.05). Multistage multivariate analysis of variance showed that 7 variables had significant relationship with physical violence, and 6 variables were associated with psychological violence (P>0.05).
Despite records available in family’s’ files, a considerable rate of domestic violence was observed against mothers in Iran, therefore, health providers are ought to prevent this by taking appropriate actions.

Benchmarking is known as the process of searching for the best where organizations are motivated with growth and development effort to identify successful experiences and achievements, and also improvement of functional indicators. This study was aimed at determining the frequency of benchmarking by managers and experts of Abadan School of Medical Sciences in the past two years.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014. The population of study was all managers and experts of Abadan School of Medical Sciences that were chosen by the census. A researcher-made questionnaire was utilized to collect data containing demographic characteristics (8 questions) and registration table of patterned cases (4 open and close-ended questions) which its validity and reliability were approved. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS18 software.
From the 139 managers and experts, 56 (40.3%) persons used 106 cases of successful experiences and achievements of other organizations to improve and develop their organizational performance including 67 cases (63.3%) in the area of management and organizational, 96 cases (90.6%) in the government agencies, 103 cases (90.6%) in Iran and 44 cases (41.5%) through site visit. There were no significant relationships between personal and organizational variables with benchmarking (P>0.05).
Given the present findings, benchmarking in Abadan School of Medical Sciences was low. Therefore, designing and implementing intervention programs appeared to be likely beneficial for promotion and development of benchmarking.

Background and Reducing maternal mortality by 75% between 1990 and 2015 was the fifth goal of the Millennium Development Goals Declaration in 2000 (MDG 5) and all countries were committed to achieve this goal. This study aimed to assess Iran’s success in achieving this target.
Data was obtained from national data sources and international reports or estimations including World Report from United Nations on maternal mortality trends, the World Bank database, World Health Organization and UNICEF reports, Maternal Mortality Surveillance System, Demographic and Health Surveys 2000 and 2010, and yearbooks of National Organization for Civil Registration and Statistical Center of Iran. Data was analyzed using Excel software to produce descriptive statistics.
Findings showed that Islamic Republic of Iran with an average annual reduction of 6.4% between 1990 and 2015 and a total reduction of 80% in maternal mortality during the past 25 years is one of the nine countries that have fully achieved the fifth Millennium Development Goal.
Coordinated efforts of Iran for reducing maternal mortality during the last 25 years could be an inspiration for other countries to reduce preventable maternal mortality.

Older people are vulnerable in terms of health status. The elderly`s Khuzestan due to the very warm weather of this region are more at risk for health problems. This study is a report on the health status of the elderly in Khuzestan province in 2012.
This is a Cross-sectional study, with multi-level proportional cluster Random sampling among people aged ≤ 60 years of Khuzestan province. Nutritional status was assessed by Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), depressed mood screening was conducted with Geriatric Depression Scale-15 questionnaire, activities of daily living was evaluated using KATZ ADL and Lawton Instrumental ADL tools.
In this study, 387 people participated. The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, depressed mood, and anxiety in the participants, were 38.8%, 28.6%, 34.9 and 38.7, respectively. Hearing loss reported in 33.9% and vision impairment was in 62.2% of the participants. Memory impaired founded in 14.9% of the participants. 4.3% of the elderly suffered from malnutrition and 48.3% were at risk of malnutrition. Dysfunction in ADL were existed in 13.9% and 30.3% of the participants had some degrees of dysfunction in IADL.
Poly pharmacy (consumed more than 3 medications) was observed in 36.5% of older adults in this province. The most common health services need was medical services at home and then transport services.
Although the health status of the elderly in Khuzestan province generally was not worse than the average of Iran, it needs that a special pay attention in some areas, such as hypertension, diabetes, nutritional status and lack of independence in activities of daily living in this age group.