nazila rezaei

 Infective endocarditis (IE), a severe and economically impactful condition, lacks substantial epidemiological data in the North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region. This study focused on analyzing the trends and burden of IE in NAME from 1990 to 2019, taking into account factors like age, gender, and socio-demographic index (SDI).

 The Global Burden of Disease data from 1990 to 2019 was retrieved from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) website.

 Between 1990 and 2019, the age-standardized rates (ASR) for IE incidence increased by 59%, and prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs) rose by 12% and 9%, respectively, while the ASRs for deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and years of life lost (YLLs) saw reductions of 22%, 34%, and 34% in the NAME region. Death rates among children under five declined by 72%. Gender and the SDI did not significantly influence these changes. Saudi Arabia witnessed the most significant increase in ASR of IE incidence since 1990, while Turkey had the highest rates in 2019. The year 2019 also saw the highest death rate among those aged 70 and over, with over 91000 DALYs from IE. DALYs decreased by 71.5% for children under five from 1990 to 2019 but remained stable for individuals in their seventies. Jordan showed the most notable decrease in ASRs for deaths, DALYs, and YLLs among children under five.

 This study highlights the changing epidemiology of IE in the NAME region, recommending the establishment of multidisciplinary IE registries, antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines for healthcare-associated IE, and strategies to control antimicrobial resistance as key mitigation measures.

This study presents estimates for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) burden and attributable risk factors in Iran from 1990–2019, using data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study.

This study reports prevalence, incidence, death, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLLs), and years lived with disability (YLDs) of T2DM in Iran, by sex, age, and province, from 1990 to 2019. We also present the T2DM burden attributable to risk factors. Results are reported in absolute number and age-standardized rates.

Overall, the burden of T2DM had increased greatly since 1990. In 2019, the T2DM incidence and prevalence cases were 291,482 (a 374% increase) and 5,035,012 (a 417% increase) respectively. Moreover, the number of death and DALYs were 14,191 (a 488% increase) and 716,457 (a 417% increase) respectively. DALYs and YLDs in women were consistently higher than men were, whereas women experienced slower increases in YLLs from 1990 to 2019. The age-standardized DALYs rate increased for all Iranian provinces during study period. High body-mass index, ambient particulate matter pollution, and low physical activity remained the three major attributable risk factors in all provinces in 2019.

T2DM constitutes a major health burden in Iran. The remarkable upsurge in the T2DM burden represents an ongoing challenge, given the rapidly aging population in Iran. Thus, integrated and multi-sectoral actions that decrease exposure to risk factors and improve the prevention and early diagnosis are needed.

Recent evidence provides the facts behind the perceptions about women researchers participating in health research (HR). Women scientists as almost half of active researchers in HR fields have important and fundamental role. The present study aimed to analyses the situation of women participation in HR of Iran.

The present study comprised three complementary phases intended to identify and analysis challenges and problems of women participation in health research in Iran (2021-22). Following a review phase, using the content analysis approach through semi-structured interviews data gathered from key stakeholders of health research. At final step, aimed to aggregate and conclude the main key findings, through an expert panel all of the results analyzed to clarify the main messages of the study, focus on reflection to the target group.

The results reveal considerable gender differences in research contribution between Iranian men and women. The need for legal infrastructure and support for the active participation of women in HR was the main extracted point of study. The need for transparent documentation and implementation of related research that demonstrates the necessary challenges and gaps was another major point.

Findings may help illuminate policy makings to promote participation of women in the country research. The optimal management of HR require facilities can play an important role in improving the quality and quantity of health studies and achieving scientific competitive positions at the regional and global levels.

Regarding the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and exposure to their risk factors, and the continuous need for nationwide data, we aimed to develop the latest round of the STEPwise Approach to NCD Risk Factor Surveillance (STEPS) survey in 2021 in Iran, while the COVID-19 pandemic was still present.

In addition to the three main steps of this survey, including questionnaires, physical measurements, and laboratory assessments, we adapted the survey with the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, by adding to various aspects of study phases and changing some scientific and executive procedures in this round of STEPS survey in Iran. These changes were beyond the initial novelties embedded within the survey before the pandemic, by refining the study protocol benefiting from the previous experiences of the STEPS survey.

By amending the required changes, we could include a total of 27874 individuals in the first step of the survey. This number was 27745 and 18119 for the second and third steps. Comparing the preliminary results with the previous nationwide surveys, this study was highly representative on both national and provincial levels. Also, implementing the COVID-19 prevention and control strategies in all stages of survey led to the least infection transmission between the study investigators and participants.

The novel initiatives and developed strategies in this round of Iran STEPS survey provide a state-of-the-art protocol for national surveys in the presence of an overwhelming catastrophe like the COVID-19 pandemic and the triggered limitations and shortages of resources.

 Following global commitments to prevent and control non-communicable diseases,  we sought to estimate national and sub-national trends in diabetes mortality in Iran and assess its association with socioeconomic factors.

 In a systematic analytical study, to assess the correlation between diabetes mortality and socioeconomic factors, we used data obtained from the Death Registration System (DRS), the Spatio-temporal model and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) levels and the diabetes mortality trends, which were estimated by sex, age and year at national and sub-national levels from 1990 to 2015. 

 Between the years 1990 and 2015, the age-standardized diabetes mortality rate (per 100,000) increased from 3.40 (95% UI: 2.33 to 4.99) to 7.72 (95% UI: 5.51 to 10.78) in males and from 4.66 (95% UI: 3.23 to 6.76) to 10.38 (95% UI: 7.54 to 14.23) in females. In 1990, the difference between the highest age-standardized diabetes mortality rate among males was 3.88 times greater than the lowest (5.97 vs. 1.54), and in 2015 this difference was 3.96 times greater (14.65 vs. 3.70). This provincial difference was higher among females and was 5.13 times greater in 1990 (8.41 vs. 1.64) and 5.04 times greater in 2015 (19.87 vs. 3.94). The rate of diabetes mortality rose with urbanization yet declined with an increase in wealth and years of schooling as the main socio-economic factors.

 The rising trend of diabetes mortality rate at the national level and the sub-national disparities associated with socioeconomic status in Iran warrant the implementation of specific interventions recommended by the ‘25 by 25’ goal.

The mortality of burn injury is a serious health problem among older people. The presentstudy aimed to determine the epidemiological characteristics of burn mortality and Years of Life Lost (YLLs)among people aged≥60.

The National and Subnational Burden of Disease (NASBOD) study includespopulation-based cross-sectional data from the death registration system of Iran and those recorded by thecemeteries of Tehran and Esfahan were used in this study. Spatio-temporal and Gaussian process regressionmodels were applied to estimate rates and trends of mortality and cause-specific mortality fractions. YLLs werecalculated using Iranian life expectancy and the number of deaths.

The mortality rate for 1990 and 2015was 17.4 and 4.5 per 100,000, respectively. From 1990 through 2015, the annual percentage of change in burnmortality rate was -6.1% in females and -4.4% in males. During 2015, there were 326 deaths following burns inpeople aged 60+ with 4586 person YLLs, and in 1990 there were 523 deaths with 4862 person-YLLs. The male-female ratio for 1990 and 2015 were 0.80 and 0.88, respectively. The age-standardized mortality rate was higherthan 8.5 per 100,000 in border provinces in 2015. The provinces with better socioeconomic situations, such asTehran, had a lower mortality rate than poor provinces, such as Sistan va Baluchistan.

Althoughburn mortality in old people decreased in those 26 years, it is still high compared to high-income countries.Continued efforts to increase preventive measures and adequate access to quality care, especially in borderprovinces, is suggested.

The recent scientific evidence shows the change in trends and patterns of social harms, which have changed in terms of type and extent, mainly from more masculine patterns to more feminine patterns. Considering the importance of the issue both from the aspect of identification and prevention, scientific and reliable documentation is needed for explanation and management. The issue has been analyzed in the present study.

In this study, the combined method of reviewing sources and documents and qualitative method were used. In the first step, documents related the social harm, women and social determinants were searched and reviewed. In the next step, the materials presented by 5 key informants and 9 members of the relevant specialized scientific working group participating in the meetings of the Women's Health Scientific Group of the Academy of Medical Sciences were implemented and analyzed with the inductive back-and-forth method. Finally, by collecting and summarizing and combining the texts and semantic units, topics were extracted and compiled in general sections, effective factors and strategies related to prevention and coping.

Aggregating the results of related studies shows; the pattern of social harms is strongly moving towards feminization, and this feminization of the pattern of social harms is not unrelated to the issue of the status of women in today's society. In recent years, the spread of social harm among women has increased concern in this field; the statistics of the increase in crimes and the number of imprisoned women also confirm this fact. The effective factors in the emergence of social harms are numerous and diverse; Many challenges of the society are the source of social damage. Things like mental well-being in society; financial and economic issues and the existence of class differences cause the emergence of social harm in the society.

In order to design and implement the most effective social harm prevention and control programs, we need accurate and reliable studies that outline the current situation, suggest countermeasures, and monitor implementation processes. Since women are the main focus of family health and stability and the guarantor of society's survival and excellence, paying attention to this important issue and planning preventive and supportive interventions is considered one of the most important priorities in the field of social health.

Ischemic Heart Diseases (IHDs) are the main causes of deaths all over the world. Since there is no comprehensive study on IHDs mortality rate in Iran, the present study aimed to estimate age-standardized IHDs mortality rate by sex, age, geography, and time trends at both national and sub-national levels in Iran.

We used the Death Registration System (DRS) data from 1990 to 2015 collected by the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education across the country, Tehran, and Isfahan main cemetery, not included in the DRS. Utilized death distribution methods to overcome the incompleteness of data. Statistical models including Spatio-temporal and Gaussian-Process Regression models were used to extrapolate all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates.

Age-standardized IHDs mortality rate in Iran almost doubled from 1990 to 2015. Forty-nine deaths per 100.000 population in 1990, which increased to 91.6 deaths per 100.000 in 2015). Male to female age-standardized mortality rate increased from 1.07 to 1.32 during the studied period. Aging was associated with an increase in age-standardized IHDs mortality rate in both sexes, all provinces, and all of the years. The range of age-standardized IHDs mortality rate for both sexes was from 58 to 136.2 deaths per 100,000 across provinces in 2015.

Due to the increase in age-standardized IHDs mortality rate in Iran, it seems necessary to design and implement appropriate public health interventions by health authorities to prevent and control this group of diseases.

The alarming trends of obesity/overweight in youth have been interested policy makers and other stakeholders to exact follow and analysis of related scientific evidence. The present paper quantify the trends of outputs of youth obesity/overweight researches in Middle East countries.

The Scopus database systematically searched as the most comprehensive multidisciplinary database, for all related obesity/overweight that focused on youth age groups concerns, from 2000 to 2017. These scientometrics analysis included the trends of scientific products, citations, and other scientometric index in Middle East countries.

During 2000–2017, in the field of youth obesity, 2350 papers published (0.40% of total 591,105 indexed paper of this region) by Middle East countries. In this regard, Iran with 574 publication (24.43%) had the first rank. After that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, respectively, with 489 (20.81%) and 313 (13.32%) papers, had the next ranks. Over 18‑year period, based on the findings all of Eastern Mediterranean countries follow the progressive plans for topics related to youth obesity. Between them, Iran and Turkey have significant growth rates (0.77% and 0.40%, respectively). Scientometric indicators such as “number of published papers,” “number of citations” confirmed that during the 2000–2017 the P‑trends of total number of related published papers and the correspond citations, in region countries, were significant (2168 papers and 34,132 citations, P < 0.001).

Most of countries at global and regional levels follow ascending trends in publications and citations in obesity/overweight fields. Iran’s position has grown significantly among them. Maintaining and promoting this position requires careful planning and special attention. The findings also could be used for better health policy and complementary researches.

Raised blood pressure is a serious risk factor for several non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Iran. In this study, we aimed to estimate the mean of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and subsequently, the prevalence of hypertension by sex, age, province, and year in Iran.

We conducted a systematic review using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases through December 2017. We also used individual level data from eight national surveys, aggregated data from seven subnational population-based studies, and extracted data reported in 52 published studies. We used a two-stage model including Age-Spatio-Temporal and Gaussian process regression (GPR) to estimate mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure and used a crosswalk model to estimate the prevalence of hypertension by sex, age, province, and year.

The number of hypertensive adults increased in Iran from 1.8 million (882 thousand in women) in 1990 to 13.6 million (7.2 million in women) in 2016. The national age-standardized prevalence of hypertension increased from 8.7% (7.8–9.7) to 28.8% (27.7–30.0) in women and from 8.0% (7.2–8.9) to 24.2% (23.1–25.3) in men from 1990 to 2016. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures show a similar increasing trend.

During the past 27 years, we observed an increase in the age-standardized prevalence and mean levels of blood pressure. If the current trend in levels of blood pressure and prevalence of hypertension continue in the coming years, Iran will not achieve the sixth target of the Global Action Plan by 2020 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

 After the outbreak of a new viral disease in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019, COVID-19 in a very short time and rapidly became a global pandemic. Through a systematic review, the present paper investigated the requirements of Mental Health Services during the COVID-19 outbreak.

A comprehensive search was conducted through PubMed and NLM Gateway (for MEDLINE), Institute of Scientific Information (ISI), and Scopus. PsychINFO and CINAHL data banks were also searched. The primary roots for the development of the search strategy developed based on the keywords of “Covid”, “mental health”, “care”, “services”. All relevant studies were included without any limitation of publication time or the papers’ language as it was not possible to conduct a formal systematic review given the nature of the publications. Instead, it was decided to conduct a mixed systematic and complementary narrative review covering different interested domains.

 Out of 80 papers, after excluding duplications, 58 articles were selected for the refinement process. Three refining steps based on the titles, abstracts, and full texts led to data extraction from 4 eligible papers. Considering the importance of the problem, related findings, key points, and research findings were summarized and presented in terms of critical components of infrastructure and resources, including policy for at-risk groups, different approaches to mental health service delivery, indirect contexts for mental health service delivery, follow-up attitudes, and complementary research. The results of the study indicate that many studies considered the consequences of physical aspects and diagnostic symptoms. Thus, aspects of mental health have been either less focused or even neglected. In mental health consequences, immediate attention and intensive programs to assess mental health, preparation for support and treatment, and prevention services are emphasized.

 During the implementation of mental health interventions, to improve services and to consider the limitations and challenges of implementing programs, it is necessary to pay attention to the attitudes of target groups and their preferences.

Current and daily smoking prevalence rates have been have investigated in several cross-sectional studies. However, analyses in terms of age-period-cohort (APC) have not been carried out. We assessed daily smoking dynamics over a 25-year period using the APC model.

In our analyses, we used data from 214,652 people aged 15 to 64 years, collected by national health surveys conducted in 1990-1991, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2016. The Intrinsic Estimator model was used to analyze the impact of APC on daily smoking prevalence.

Males were found to exhibit a higher prevalence of smoking compared to females (26.0% against 2.7%). Prevalence of smoking increased by age, peaking at the age groups of 40-44 in men and 45-49 in women, followed by a decreasing trend. The 1990 period had the highest prevalence in both genders, and the 2016 period had the lowest. The coefficients of birth cohort effects showed different patter19s of fluctuations in the two genders with the maximum and minimum coefficients for men calculated in the 1966-1970 and 1991-95 birth cohorts, and for females the 1931-1935 and 1971-1975 birth cohorts, respectively.

We showed the impact of APC on daily tobacco smoking prevalence, and these factors should be considered when dealing with smoking.

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are the major cause of premature death and disability due to diseased globally, imposing a heavy burden on the health systems. Four main categories of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases. Iran, the second greatest country in the Middle East Region, has been through an important transition period of communicable diseases toward NCDs in the last decades. One of the effective approaches to control NCDs is implementation of population-based studies and interventions, trying to reduce risk factors and incidence of NCDs through investigations in the populations. Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute (EMRI) and Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center (NCDRC) are the pioneers trying to study and control various NCDs during the last decades in Iran. In this review, we are going to inspect some of the major completed and ongoing projects of this research institute to highlight valuable efforts to reduce burden of NCDs in Iran, and make a successful example for national and regional public health policy makers and authorities.

Appendicitis is one of the most preventable causes of death worldwide. We aimed to determine the trend of mortality due to appendicitis by sex and age at national and provincial levels in Iran during 26 years.

Data were collected from Iran Death Registration System (DRS), cemetery databanks in Tehran and Esfahan, and the national population and housing censuses of Iran. The estimated population was determined for each group from 1990 to 2015 using a growth model. Incompleteness, misalignment, and misclassification in the DRS were addressed and multiple imputation methods were used for dealing with missing data. ICD-10 codes were converted to Global Burden of Disease (GBD) codes to allow comparison of the results with the GBD study. A Spatio-Temporal model and Gaussian Process Regression were used to predict the levels and trends in child and adult mortality rates, as well as cause fractions.

From 1990 to 2015, 6,982 deaths due to appendicitis were estimated in Iran. The age-standardized mortality rate per 100 000 decreased from 0.72 (95% UI: 0.46–1.12) in 1990 to 0.11 (0.07–0.16) in 2015, a reduction of 84.72% over the course of 26 years. The male: female ratio was 1.13 during the 26 years of the study with an average annual percent change of -2.31% for women and -2.63% for men. Among men and women, appendicitis mortality rate had the highest magnitude of decline in the province of Zanjan and the lowest in the province of Hormozgan. In 1990, the lowest age-standardized appendicitis-related mortality was observed in both women and men in the province of Alborz and the highest mortality rate among men were observed in the province of Lorestan. In 2015, the lowest mortality rates in women and men were in the province of Tehran. The highest mortality rates in women were in Hormozgan, and in men were in Golestan province.

The mortality rate due to appendicitis has declined at national and provincial levels in Iran. Understanding the causes of differences across provinces and the trend over years can be useful in priority setting for policy makers to inform preventive actions to further decrease mortality from appendicitis.

Cancer, a common disease in adulthood, is a rare albeit slowly increasing condition among children. Currently, limited data are available on the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of these diseases in many regions, including developing countries. Herein, we are reporting national and sub-national estimates on deaths due to childhood cancers between 2000 and 2015 in Iran. Cancer mortality rates were estimated using the national death registration system’s data after addressing its incompleteness and misclassification, using demographic (complete birth history and summary birth history) and statistical analysis (spatiotemporal, Gaussian process regression, and generalized linear mixed models). We included data from cemeteries of two cities (Tehran and Isfahan) that were not included in the death registration system. We used census data and household expenditure and income surveys for data on population and other covariates used in the modeling. The overall age-standardized death rate (ASDR) of childhood cancers have decreased by 69.52% (80.67–49.71) in Iran (equal to an annual percent change of -3.63 [-4.53– -2.24]), declining from 12.24 (95% UI: 10.52–14.49) in 2000 to 3.73 (2.8–5.29) deaths per 100000 in 2015. This decrement was equal to an annual percent change of 4.35% over these years. Leukemia, brain, and nervous system malignancies accounted for about 66% of all cancer-related mortalities among children and adolescents in 2015, which had a 10% increase compared to 2000. Moreover, trends at the sub-national level showed that the highest and lowest ASDR of childhood cancers ranged from 2.12 to 4.99 across provinces of Iran in 2015. Although the overall mortalities have decreased, there is still inequality in the distribution of the recorded deaths. This inequality should be addressed with the improvement of the quality of care and better access to pediatric hospitals and oncologists in these areas.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of compassion-based therapy on impulsivity, interpersonal sensitivity and self-harm in people with borderline personality disorder with self-reported history. This research was conducted within the framework of a single subject design with a baseline, with a simultaneous start, in 9 sessions for one hour on five patient follow-up trials. The statistical population in this study was patients with borderline personality disorder, of whom five were identified with the borderline personality disorder and according to volunteering and adapted to the criteria of the study, they were selected through targeted sampling, which was determined according to the diagnosis of a psychiatrist with this disorder. Data were collected through Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Bar-On, 1980) and Interpersonal Impulsiveness and Interpersonal Sensitivity subscales. Data analysis by diagram and change coefficient showed that the intervention had significant and significant changes in signs and symptoms of self-mutilation of border patients. Contra-based treatment interventions have been effective on impulsiveness, interpersonal sensitivity, and self-confidence in people with borderline personality disorder.

Deaths due to road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a major public health concern around the world. Developing countries are over-represented in these statistics. Punitive measures are traditionally employed to lower RTA related behavioural risk factors. These are, however, resource intensive and require infrastructure development. This is a randomised controlled study to investigate the effect of non-punitive behavioural intervention through peer-comparison feedback based on driver behaviour data gathered by an in-vehicle telematics device. Design, Setting, and Participants: A randomised controlled trial using repeated measures design conducted in Iran on the drivers of 112 public transport taxis in Tehran province and 1309 inter-city busses operating nationwide. Driving data is captured by an in-vehicle telematics device and sent to a centrally located data centre using a mobile network. The telematics device is installed in all vehicles. Participants are males aged above 20 who have had the device operating in their vehicles for at least 3 months prior to the start of the trial. Intervention: The study had three stages: 1- Driver performance was monitored for a 4-week period after which they were randomised into intervention and control groups. 2- Their performance was monitored for a 9-week period. At the end of each week, drivers in the intervention group received a scorecard and a note informing them of their weekly behaviour and ranking within their peer group. Drivers in the control group received no feedback via short messaging service (SMS). 3- Drivers did not receive further feedback and their behaviour was monitored for another 4 weeks. Primary and Secondary Outcome Measure: Primary outcome was changes in weekly driving score in intervention and control groups during stage 2 of intervention. Taxis and busses were analysed separately using generalised estimating equation analysis. Funding and Ethical Approval: This project was funded by the National Institute for Medical Research Development (Grant No.940576) and approved by its ethics committee (Code: IR.NIMAD.REC.1394.016). This trial was registered at www.irct.ir as IRCT20180708040391N1.

Gastrointestinal (GI) neoplasms are among the most common cancers in Iran. This study aimed to measure annual trends in mortality rates from GI cancers in Iran between 1990 and 2015.
This study was part of an ongoing study termed the ‘National and Subnational Burden of Diseases’ study in Iran. Data used in this study was obtained from the Iranian Death Registration System (1995 to 2010) and from 2 major cemeteries in Tehran (1995 to 2010) and Isfahan (2007 to 2010). All-cause mortality rates were estimated using the spatio-temporal model and the Gaussian process regression model. Age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) per 100 000 person-years was calculated using data from Iran and the standard world population for comparison.
Among GI cancers, gastric cancer represented the leading cause of mortality followed by cancers of the esophagus, liver, and colorectal cancers with the ASMR of 20.5, 5.8, 4.4, and 4.0 per 100 000 persons-years, respectively, between 1990 and 2015. While a decreasing trend occurred in mortality of esophageal, gastric, and colorectal cancers, particularly in the recent decade, we recorded an upward pattern and steady rise in mortality rates from liver, pancreatic, and gallbladder cancers during the study period. The ASMR of all studied causes were enhanced by advancing age and were found to be more prominent in adults aged 50 or older. Among all age-groups, higher death rates were detected in males versus females for all studied cancers except for gallbladder and biliary tract cancers.
Gastric cancer mortality is still high and death rates from several other GI cancers are increasing in the nation. Interventions for cancer prevention, early detection, and access to high quality cancer treatment services are needed to reduce GI cancer burden and death rates in Iran and in the region.

Given the importance of access to information and the need for reliable data, systematic approaches to evaluation of national surveys such as NCD risk factor surveillance system (STEPs) is a priority. Benefiting from partnership of all of stakeholders, present paper provides a practical framework of the strengths and weaknesses of planning and conduction of vast investigation. In addition, it can offer solutions for improving operational and scientific protocols.
The aim to the comprehensive review and analysis of 6 rounds implementations of STEPs, related documents, along with the findings of a qualitative study of the expert opinions were analyzed. The results were presented corresponding to the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges, with proposed approaches.
The results of this study show that in the years of 2004 - 2009 as well as 2011, the same questions have different codes in the questionnaire and in the data files. Based on the results, over the past 6 years, there are more than 240 distinct options in the questions. Accordingly, under 2 main axes of content and implementation, the findings were presented in accordance with the strengths, challenges, and suggested solutions, which includes the areas of questions, anthropometric, biological measurements, and sampling.
Development and standardization of administrative and scientific protocols of STEPs, along with the management of levels of security and availability of data proposed as long-term policies for better conduction and promotion of the study.

The rise in non–communicable diseases (NCDs) has gained increasing attention. There is a great need for reliable data to address such problems. Here, we describe the development of a comprehensive set of executive and scientific protocols and instructions of STEPs 2016.
METHODS/DESIGN: This is a large–scale cross–sectional study of Surveillance of Risk Factors of NCDs in Iran. Through systematic proportional to size cluster random sampling, 31,050 participants enrolled in three sequential processes, of completing questionnaires; physical measurements, and lab assessment.
Out of 429 districts, samples were taken from urban and rural areas of 389 districts. After applying sampling weight to the samples, comparing the distribution of population and samples, compared classification was determined in accordance with the age and sex groups. Out of 31,050 expected participants, 30,541 participant completed questionnaires (52.31% female). For physical measurements and lab assessment, the cases included 30,042 (52.38% female) and 19,778 (54.04% female), respectively.
There is an urgent need to focus on reviewing trend analyses of NCDs.To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first comprehensive experience on systematic electronic national survey. The results could be also used for future complementary studies.

Due to significant achievements in reducing mortality and increasing life expectancy, the issue of disability from diseases and injuries, and their related interventions, has become one of the most important concerns of health-related research.
Using data obtained from the GBD 2015 study, the present report provides prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs) of 310 diseases and injuries by sex and age in Iran and neighboring countries over the period 1990–2015. Age-standardized rates of all causes of YLDs are presented for both males and females in 16 countries for 1990 and 2015. We present the percentage of total YLDs for 21 categories of diseases and injuries, the percentage of YLDs for age groups, as well as the ranking of the most prevalent causes and YLDs from the top 50 diseases and injuries in Iran.
In 2015, the burden of 310 diseases and injuries among the Iranian population was responsible for 8,357,878 loss of all-age total years, which is equal to 10.58% of total years lived per year. This differs from the neighboring countries, as it ranges from 9.05% in Turkmenistan to 13.36% in Russia. During the past 25 years, a remarkable decrease was observed in all-cause YLD rates in all 16 countries. Meanwhile, in all countries, the age-standardized rate of all causes of YLDs was higher in females than males.
Based on our findings, one of the remarkable changes in NCDs observed among the studied age groups was increased rate of YLDs from mental disorders, which was replaced by musculoskeletal disorders in older age groups in 2015.

Causes of death statistics provide crucial health intelligence in national and international communities. An efficient death registration system provides reliable information for health policy system. In many developing countries, death registration systems face a degree of misclassification and incompleteness. There are many impediments to putting an estimate of cause-specific death rates. Addressing those challenges could prevent misleading results.
Our data was collected by Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran and Isfahan cemeteries from 1995 to 2010. After converting ICD codes of Iran’s death registration into GBD codes, 170 underlying causes of deaths were recognized in the available data. A wide range of methods were applied for preparing the data. We used several statistical models to estimate mortality rates in age-sex-province groups for all causes of deaths. The considerable number of combinations for age, sex, cause of death, year, and province variables made further complicated model selection and evaluation of the results.
Totally, 58.91% of deaths were related to males. The majority of cases of death were classified as NCDs (77.83%) and injuries (14.80%). We extrapolated 71.76% and 14.71% of causes of death by mixed effect model, spline model with parameter 0.9 and 0.6, respectively.
A comprehensive and unique registration system is able to solve many DRS issues. It is necessary to assess the quality and validity of cause of death data. Scientific methods like analyzing mortality level and cause-of-death data are used to provide an overview for better decisions.

To evaluate the HIV/AIDS burden in Iran from 1980 to 2010 using the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010).
The burden of HIV/AIDS in Iran was obtained from a systematic study from 1990 to 2010 by the GBD team. The GBD 2010 disability weights were used to calculate the HIV/AIDS Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) based on the HIV prevalence reported by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimation. Mortality data were obtained from the vital registration and statistics system of Iran. In the current study, the results are discussed, and the potential solutions are provided for observed deficiencies.
HIV/AIDS-related DALYs (3.6 per 100,000 in 1990, and 154 per 100,000 in 2010) and death (0.07 per 100,000 in 1990, and 3 per 100,000 in 2010) had increased in Iran from 1990 to 2010. The majority of individuals who died of HIV were between 15 to 49 years old. The estimated rank of HIV/AIDS burden compared with the burden of other leading disease was 152nd in 1990 and considerably increased to 37th in 2010 in Iran.
Since the majority of HIV/AIDS DALYs and deaths occur among young people, the burden of HIV/AIDS still remains high in Iran. Due to the limitations of the GBD study, National and Sub-National Burden of Diseases (NASBOD) study is being conducted in Iran to calculate the burden of diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Malaria is a major public health challenge in tropical and semi-tropical countries in terms of high morbidity and mortality. The present study aimed to report the burden of malaria in Iran, extracted from the global burden of disease 2010 study (GBD 2010) covering the period 1990 to 2010, to compare these findings with similar results, and to present some recommendations as potential solutions for gaining more accurate estimations regarding the burden of the disease in Iran.
Data covering the period from 1990 to 2010 were derived from the GBD 2010, which is published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The findings were used to estimate the years lived with disability (YLDs), the years of life lost (YLLs), the disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and the death rate of malaria in Iran.
The GBD 2010 estimated that there was a sharp declining death trend with regard to DALYs and death rate, showing that 4,647.63 DALYs were due to malaria in Iranian people of all ages and both genders, and that DALYs per 100,000 individuals declined from 37.15 in 1990 to 5.87 in 2010. The total number of malaria deaths over the 20 years was 73.37.
The findings revealed that the burden of malaria decreased remarkably between 1990 and 2010. The explanation for this decrease is the establishment of a malaria surveillance system in various parts of Iran, and utilization of proper intervention and the improvement of infrastructures, which play a role in disease transmission, especially in endemic areas.