Cancer trends in a province of Southwest of Iran, 2003-2016

The Prevalence of Thyroid Cancer in Iran: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the endocrine glands and comprises 1% of all malignant cancers and its incidence is still increasing. No comprehensive study summarizing the results of these studies was found. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of thyroid cancer in Iran in a systematic review and meta-analysis. In this review, studies were extracted by searching the national and international databases of SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, and Google Scholar, Cochrane, Embase, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science (WoS) from 1997 to September 2019. Simple random effects model was used for data analysis and heterogeneity of studies was investigated with I ² index. Data were analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (version 2) software. In 28 reviewed articles, the prevalence of thyroid cancer in Iran was reported to be 3.5% with a sample size of 100,869 (95% CI: 2.7-4.4%). Regarding heterogeneity on the basis of meta-regression, there was no significant difference between the effect of the year of study (P = 0.531) and sample size (P = 0.864) and the prevalence of thyroid cancer in Iran. The results of this study indicated that the prevalence of thyroid cancer is high in Iran. Therefore, appropriate strategies should be put in place by providing feedback to hospitals in order to improve the aforementioned situation, and troubleshoot and monitor at all levels.

Facilitating Factors and Barriers of Women's Cancer Screening in Iran: A Systematic Review

Low uptake of women's cancer screening and its facilitating factors and barriers in Iran has been studied so far but no consensus on factors affecting this low uptake has been stated previously. Nevertheless, facilitating factors and barriers of breast cancer and cervical cancer have been reviewed. In this systematic review, Web of Science, PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Google Scholar were the preferred search engines. In addition, the Persian database of Magiran and SIDs and ISC indexed journals were searched with different combinations of Persian keywords compatible with English search. A hand search of key Iranian journals was also accomplished. Through 964 primarily searched articles, finally, after duplicates being removed, the screen of records, and full-text articles assessed for eligibility, only 12 articles were included in the review. Barriers observed mostly were screening not advised by a physician, having no relevant problems or disease, having no knowledge about the procedure, fear from pain or cancer detection, shame from the procedure, and forget to have screening. Facilitators were less focused than barriers and frequently were identified as advised by healthcare professionals, the perceived necessity for screening, and the important identified risk of cancer acquire. Almost all studies focused on individual and interpersonal barriers and facilitators for screening instead of a holistic view on the utilization of screening programs. In future studies on women's cancer screening, facilitating factors and barriers of both supply (health system provision and policy implications) and demand-side (individual and interpersonal factors) of healthcare provision has been strongly recommended.

Investigating the effect of Integrated Educational Program on the Quality of Life among Cancer Patients: A Clinical Trial Study

Background:

cancer is one of the most common causes of death around the world. The process of this disease and the resulting complications reduce the quality of life of cancer patients. Taking the necessary measures for improving the quality of life of these patients seems to be essential. This study was performed to investigate the effect of integrated educational program on the quality of life of cancer patients.

Methods:

in this clinical trial study, 64 patients hospitalized in the specialized cancer hospital affiliated with Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran, were selected according to the inclusion criteria. Then, through blocked randomization method, they were assigned into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received the necessary trainings over four 60-min sessions (one session per week). The data collection in this study included demographic questionnaire and quality-of-life questionnaire of cancer patients (QLQ-C30). The quality of life was examined before the training as well as one and two months after the training. The data were analyzed by SPSS 20. Independent t-test was used to compare the means of the life quality dimensions of the studied groups.

Results:

all of the functional dimensions [physical, role function, emotional, cognitive, social(P≤0.05)] and symptomatic [fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, dyspnea, sleep disorders, diminished appetite, constipation, and diarrhea (P≤0.05)] of the quality of life of the intervention group increased significantly one and two months after running the integrated educational program.

Conclusion:

integrated training causes improved symptoms and enhanced quality of life in cancer patients. Thus, it is recommended that integrated training be conducted alongside the routine care of cancer patients. This can improve the therapeutic outcomes, and also highlights the important role of nurses as well as nursing cares.