diana saroukhani

Congenital anomaly is a disturbance in fetal growth and development during pregnancy and is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the first year of life. In addition, this anomaly causes a large waste of heath care resources. We aimed to determine the prevalence and proportion rates of different congenital anomalies in Iran via a systematic review and meta-analysis.
The present study was performed to estimate the prevalence and proportion rates of different anomalies in Iran via a systematic review and meta-analysis. Therefore, all the studies performed in Iran between 2000 and 2016 were evaluated. For this purpose, Medlib, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Irandoc, Magiran, IranMedex, and SID databases were searched by two different expert individuals independently. For the qualification survey of the papers, the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology checklist was applied. Then, the extracted data were entered into STATA (ver.11.1) and analysed using statistical tests of stability and random effects models in meta-regression, a tool used in meta-analysis. The 95% confidence intervals were calculated by I-square models. Meta regression was introduced to explore the heterogeneities among studies.
Overall, 36 papers with a total sample size of 909,961 neonates were analysed. The total prevalence rate for congenital anomalies was 18/1000 live births, 23.2/1000 and 18/1000 for boys and girls, respectively. Moreover, 55.8% of all congenital anomalies pertained to boys. The greatest prevalence and proportion rates of congenital anomalies belonged to musculoskeletal disorders followed by urogenital anomalies (9.3/1000 [34%] and 5.7/1000 [20%], respectively), and the lowest figures belonged to chromosomal and respiratory system anomalies (0.8/1000 [6%] and 0.3/1000 [2%], respectively).
According to the findings of this meta-analysis, the prevalence of congenital anomalies is notably high in Iran and annually imposes huge visible and non-visible expenses on individuals, societies, and heath care systems. Therefore, preparation of tools and centres for the early diagnosis and prevention of birth defects and rehabilitation of those with congenital anomalies throughout Iran are essential.

Cancer is the third leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases and accidents. Patients with cancer do not have a good quality of life. Therefore, the purpose of this study was investigating the state of quality of life in cancer patients in Iran, using the meta-analysis method.
The search was done using keywords: Quality of Life, Cancer and Iran in the foreign databases of Pubmed, Scopus, Medline, ISI, Google Scholar and native databases such as Sid, Medlib, Iranmedex and Magiran. Data was analyzed using meta-analysis (Random Effects Model). The heterogeneity of the studies was investigated using I^2 index. Data was analyzed using STATA Ver.11 software. SF-36¡ E-Q-C-30¡ TNO-AZL¡ WB-26¡ BR23-C 30 and QOL-BC questionnaires were used in the investigations.
Among the 17 accomplished studies in Iran with the sample size of 1476 from year 2003 to 2015, the average quality of life score for cancer patients in Iran was 42 (confidence interval 95%: 34.05 to 49.96) and in men and women were 28.90 and 30.61, respectively. The average quality of life score for the emotional aspect were 55.20, social 40.8, mental health 36.50, physical health 38.17, respectively. The prevalence of quality of life as good, fair and bad were 47%, 34% and 9%, respectively.
The average quality of life score of cancer patients is higher in women in compare to men