Clinical Breast Cancer Registry of IR. Iran (CBCR-IR): Study Protocol and First Results

BACKGROUND

Breast cancer (BC), as a significant global health problem, is the most common cancer in women. Despite the importance of clinical cancer registries in improving the quality of cancer care and cancer research, there are few reports on them from low- and middle-income countries. We established a multicenter clinical breast cancer registry in Iran (CBCR-IR) to collect data on BC cases, the pattern of care, and the quality-of-care indicators in different hospitals across the country.

METHODS

We established a clinical cancer registry in 12 provinces of Iran. We defined the organizational structure, developed minimal data sets and data dictionaries, verified data sources and registration processes, and developed the necessary registry software. During this registry, we studied the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with cancer who were admitted from 2014 onwards.

RESULTS

We registered 13086 BC cases (7874 eligible cases) between 1.1.2014 and 1.1.2022. Core needle biopsy from the tumor (61.25%) and diagnostic mammography (68.78%) were the two most commonly used diagnostic methods. Stage distribution was 2.03% carcinoma in situ, 12% stage I, 44.65% stage II, 21.32% stage III, and 4.61% stage IV; stage information was missing in 1532 patients (19.46%). Surgery (95.01%) and chemotherapy (79.65%) were the most common treatments for all patients.

CONCLUSION

The information provided by this registry can be used to evaluate and improve the quality of care for BC patients. It will be scaled up to the national level as an important resource for measuring quality of care and conducting clinical cancer research in Iran.

The Effect of Internet-Based Intervention on Lifestyle and Healthy Nutrition Habits of Women in North of Iran: A Field-Based Trial Study

Background: A healthy lifestyle based on healthy eating habits and appropriate physical activity during different periods of life, bring healthy old age to women through preventing overweight or maintaining a healthy weight Objectives: This study was aimed to determine the effect of Internet-based intervention on the lifestyle and healthy eating habits of women in northern Iran. Materials & Methods: The present field-trial study was conducted on 268 women who were members of Population of Mental Health Assistants from November 2014 to May 2015. The educational intervention was carried out through a website containing information on healthy lifestyle, nutrition, and cooking methods of various healthy foods. The participants of the intervention group were also received their special diet. All participants were evaluated after 3 and 6 months in terms of changes in weight, BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and nutritional habits. Their lifestyle were measured using the standard questionnaire of Health- Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II). Data was analyzed using repeated measure analysis of variance. Results: The average age (Standard Deviation (SD)) of the intervention and comparison group was 38.7 (10.8) and 36.9 (10.8) years, respectively. After six months, the average BMI of the intervention group decreased from 27.4 (SD=5.3) to 26.3 (SD=5.7) kg/m2 (P<0.001). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure of both groups showed a significant decrease (P<0.001). Nutrition (F1,266=62.09, P=0.001, η2=0.19) followed by health responsibility (F1,255=30.4, P= 0.001, η2= 0.11) were the most important dimensions of HPLP-II affected by intervention. Conclusion: The Internet-based educational intervention program, using a bottom-up approach, has a favorable effect on the improvement of the lifestyle and weight loss of the participants. The findings of the present study showed the possibility of using the new e-health technology in order to promote healthy lifestyle and eating habits in women.

Phonophobia and migraine features in patients with definite meniere's disease: Pentad or triad/tetrad?

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown different association between migraine and Meniere's disease (MD). Few studies investigated the frequency of phonophobia in MD.Objectives: This study aimed to determine the frequency of phonophobia and other features of migraine in definite MD.Material and Methods: Patients with definite MD and a group of healthy (non-MD, non-vertiginous) control subjects participated. Demographic data and other clinical features of the two diseases recorded. Data analyzed in SPSS software version 20, by qi square and independent T test and logistic regression model.Results: 69 MD patients (average age: 48.87 ± 12.15 years) and 60 control subjects (average age: 47.58 ± 12.05 years) enrolled. The frequency of migraine headache in MD cases was 16% (45% with aura) compared with 5% in control group (three cases; 2 without and 1 with aura) (p < .001). Family history of migraine was the only determinant of the presence of migraine in MD (p = .001, OR = 15.625, 95%CI: 2.94-88.33). The frequency of phonophobia in MD was very high (88.4%: 54.5% in migraine subgroup and 89.6% in non-migraine cases) and without significant relation to existence of migraine, in contrast to photophobia and osmophobia (p = .064).Conclusions: The frequency of migraine in MD is higher than normal subjects. Phonophobia may be an independent symptom in MD.

Psychological empowerment of NGO women in Iran: Designing a tool

Background

As the core of health promotion, proper assessment of empowerment is a base for planning for a process that increases people’s control on their decisions, lifestyle, and effective activities for their health.

Objective

To design and develop a special tool to assess the empowerment of NGO women in Iran.

Methods

This successive exploratory study of combinational type was conducted in 2015 in two steps. In the first step, using comments of participants and the help of authentic texts related to this field, dimensions of psychological empowerment were developed. In the second step, psychometric properties of the scale or tool were determined using formal content, and structural validity and reliability were determined using internal consistency and stability via SPSS version 21.

Results

In the first step, the initial tool including 58 items was developed in the form of eight domains. In the second step, based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the number of items was reduced to 37. Considering the eigenvalues of higher than one, items were classified into eight factors. KMO index was 0.896 in this study. Reliability of the tool was 0.81 using Cronbach’s alpha. This tool is able to predict 66.1% of total changes in psychological empowerment.

Conclusion

A questionnaire with relevant reliability and validity, including eight domains of participation, motivation, cognitive thinking, critical thinking, self-efficacy, intention, perceived control and social support was developed to measure psychological empowerment of NGO women in Iran.

The relationship between individual empowerment and health-promoting lifestyle among women NGOs in northern Iran

INTRODUCTION

According to the health-promoting approach, people should be empowered such that they take responsibility for their health and follow a healthy lifestyle. Empowerment is a process in which people confront problems and tasks in their lives in order to better control them. This study was conducted to specify the relationship between individual empowerment and health-promoting lifestyle among women NGOs of northern Iran.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, 290 women NGOs of Guilan Province were selected randomly using multistage cluster sampling, and were examined using the questionnaire of health-promoting lifestyle profile II and individual empowerment inventory scale. Data were analyzed using STATA 11 software via one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate linear regression.

RESULTS

Both variables of individual empowerment and health-promoting lifestyle were of favorable status among the population under study. The highest score in individual empowerment belonged to the domain of social support and the highest score in lifestyle belonged to spiritual growth. A significant relationship was found between individual empowerment and health-promoting lifestyle (p<0.001). The highest correlation between individual empowerment and dimensions of health-promoting lifestyle was related to interpersonal relationships. In addition, it was specified that 21% of lifestyle variance could be explained by individual empowerment.

CONCLUSION

There is a relation between individual empowerment and health-promoting lifestyle. Individual empowerment is a predictive variable to have a health-promoting lifestyle. Therefore, by increasing individuals' empowerment, their healthy lifestyle can be promoted.