abdolsamad gharavi

Recent evidence suggests overall diet quality, as assessed by dietary scores, may play a role in the development of upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancers. However, the existing dietary scores are derived from high-income countries with different dietary habits than regions with the highest burden of UGI cancers, where limited data is available. This study aimed to investigate the association between overall diet quality and risk of esophageal and stomach cancers in a high-risk region for UGI cancers.

We recruited 50 045 individuals aged 40-75 between 2004-2008 from northeastern Iran and followed them annually through July 2020. Data on demographics, diet, and various exposures were collected using validated questionnaires. Diet quality was assessed by calculating the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), Alternative Mediterranean Diet (AMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and World Cancer Research Fund–American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF-AICR) scores.

During an average 12 years of follow-up, 359 participants developed esophageal cancer and 358 developed stomach cancer. After adjustments, each standard deviation increase in baseline dietary scores was associated with up to 12% reduction in esophageal cancer risk and up to 17% reduction in stomach cancer risk. Esophageal cancer showed stronger inverse associations with adherence to AMED (HRQ4-vs-Q1 = 0.69 (0.49–0.98), P-trend = 0.038). Stomach cancer showed stronger inverse correlation with WCRF-AICR (HRQ4-vs-Q1 = 0.58 (0.41–0.83), P-trend = 0.004), and DASH (HRC4-vs-C1 = 0.72 (0.54–0.96), P-trend = 0.041). These associations were comparable across different population subgroups. We did not observe significant associations between HEI and AHEI scores and UGI cancers in this population.

Despite the differences in consuming individual food groups, adherence to the available dietary recommendations (derived from high-income countries) was associated with lower risk for subsequent esophageal and gastric cancers in this high-risk population. Educating the public to have a healthy eating pattern might be an effective strategy towards prevention of UGI cancers in high-risk regions.

While hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the most prevalent cause of adult liver transplants in Iran, the mortality rates and leading causes of death in HBV patients are not well-understood. This study aimed to investigate all-cause and cause-specific mortality among HBsAg positive individuals in a large Iranian cohort.

The Golestan Cohort Study includes 50045 individuals aged 40–75 residing in Iran’s Golestan province, enrolled during 2004–2008. HBsAg test was performed at baseline. For the present study, individuals with hepatitis C coinfection were excluded. All-cause mortality was considered as the primary outcome. The association between HBsAg and different mortality causes was evaluated using Cox proportional hazard models. P value<0.05 was considered significant.

The current study included 49667 participants. After 11.33 (median) follow-up years, there were 7,686 total deaths, with 635 deaths in the HBsAg positive group. In the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, HBsAg positive individuals had higher all-cause (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]=1.15, 95% CI: 1.06–1.24) and liver-related mortality risk (aHR=7.13; 5.19–9.79). Mortality from colorectal and pancreatic cancers was higher among male HBsAg positive participants (aHRs=2.41 and 2.22, respectively). Nevertheless, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and extrahepatic malignancies were the leading causes of death among both HBsAg positive and negative individuals, and liver-related deaths contributed to an overall 10% of deaths in HBsAg positive patients.

HBV is associated with significant mortality risk from different causes in Iranian adults. However, solely focusing on liver outcomes in Iranian HBV patients might result in overlooking non-liver events, especially CVD and extrahepatic cancers.

The incidence and survival of breast cancer (BC) vary across countries. This study aimed to determine risk factors for BC and estimate the overall survival rate in BC patients of the Golestan Cohort Study (GCS). This case-control study was performed among participants of the GCS. Cases (N = 99) consisted of women who were diagnosed with BC and controls (n = 400) were selected out of women participating in the same cohort and had not developed any cancer during the follow-up period. Controls were frequency matched to case on both place of residency and 5-year categories of age. Considering confounding variables, logistic regression analysis manifested a reverse association between parity and BC (OR [odds ratio] = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.80–0.95, P = 0.001). In addition, we found women who had family history of any cancer (OR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.02–2.60, P = 0.04) and long term oral contraceptive (OCP) use (≥10 years) (OR = 3.17, 95% CI: 1.27–7.95, P = 0.01) were at higher risk of BC. Of the total patients, 23 (23.2%) were died due to BC after a mean follow-up of 102.4 ± 5.31 months. Using the Kaplan-Meier analysis, the 5-year survival in these patients was 74%. In the Golestan Cohort population, long term OCP use and family history of cancer were risk factors for BC, while parity was a protective factor. The 5-year survival of BC patients in the GCS is still lower relative to Europe and the United States.

It is unclear which anthropometric obesity indicator best predicts adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the association of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and hip-adjusted WC with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. 50045 people aged 40–75 (58% women, median BMI: 26.3 kg /m2 ) participated in the population-based Golestan Cohort Study. We used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association of obesity indicators with mortality. We also examined the association of these indicators with intermediate outcomes, including hypertension, blood glucose, dyslipidemia, carotid atherosclerosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver, and visceral abdominal fat. After a median follow-up of 10.9 years (success rate: 99.1%), 6651 deaths (2778 cardiovascular) occurred. Comparing 5th to the 1st quintile, HRs (95% CIs) for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were 1.12 (1.02–1.22) and 1.59 (1.39–1.83) for BMI, 1.16 (1.07–1.27) and 1.66 (1.44–1.90) for WC, 1.28 (1.17–1.40) and 1.88 (1.63–2.18) for WHtR, 1.44 (1.32–1.58) and 2.04 (1.76–2.36) for WHR, and 1.84 (1.62–2.09) and 2.72 (2.23–3.32) for hip-adjusted WC, respectively. Hip-adjusted WC had the strongest associations with the intermediate outcomes. Indicators of visceral adiposity (e.g., hip-adjusted WC) were much stronger predictors of overall and cardiovascular mortality than were indicators of general adiposity (e.g., BMI). The full-strength effect of visceral adiposity becomes apparent only when both WC, as a risk factor, and hip circumference, as a protective factor, are individually and simultaneously taken into consideration.

Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease of unknown etiology. Sarcoidosis involving the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is extremely rare. This is a rare case report of an individual with symptomatic gastroduodenal sarcoidosis. A 34-year-old male with a six-month history of epigastric pain, nausea, early satiety and weight loss presented to our clinic. An upper endoscopy was performed which showed a cardia ulcer that measured approximately 10 mm along with multiple superficial erosions and patchy erythema in all parts of the gastroduodenal mucosa. Biopsies of the stomach and duodenum revealed severe active chronic noncaseating granulomatous gastritis and duodenitis. Stains for Helicobacter pylori, acid fast bacteria, and fungi were negative. An upper GI series showed thickened gastric folds with narrowing of the gastric body and antrum with lack of distensibility. The plasma level of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) was elevated. Corticosteroid therapy was started with rapid abatement of his symptoms. In cases of refractory epigastric pain, especially if other organ involvement, gastroduodenal sarcoidosis should be considered.