Effect of Birth Weight and Socioeconomic Status on Children's Growth in Mashhad, Iran

Background. Socioeconomic status and birth weight are prominent factors for future growing of children. Also Studies show that this criterion is associated with reduced cognitive outcomes, school achievement, and adult work capacity. So in this paper we determined the effects of some socio-economic statuses and birth weight on physical growth of children in Mashhad, Iran. Method and materials. This is a cross sectional study that determined effect of socio-economic status and birth weight on weight, heighting and BMI of school age children. Healthy six years old children who were screened before enter, to school were eligible for participating in our study between 6 June 2006 and 31 July. Weight and standing height were documented at birth and measured at 6 years old. Then, their BMI were calculated in childhood period. Data were analyzed by using SPSS software. Result. Results show that some socio-economic variables and birth weight is associated with and, perhaps, influence the variation of growth in the children. The variables which show the most consistent and significant association were birth weight, sex, economic status and education of parents. Conclusion. In this paper, we found that birth weight, economic status and education parents of neonates have directly significant effect on growth childhood period. We recommended that paying attention to these criteria for improving growth of children in our society should be considered by authorities

Effect of Birth Weight and Socioeconomic Status on Children's Growth in Mashhad, Iran

Background. Socioeconomic status and birth weight are prominent factors for future growing of children. Also Studies show that this criterion is associated with reduced cognitive outcomes, school achievement, and adult work capacity. So in this paper we determined the effects of some socio-economic statuses and birth weight on physical growth of children in Mashhad, Iran. Method and materials. This is a cross sectional study that determined effect of socio-economic status and birth weight on weight, heighting and BMI of school age children. Healthy six years old children who were screened before enter, to school were eligible for participating in our study between 6 June 2006 and 31 July. Weight and standing height were documented at birth and measured at 6 years old. Then, their BMI were calculated in childhood period. Data were analyzed by using SPSS software. Result. Results show that some socio-economic variables and birth weight is associated with and, perhaps, influence the variation of growth in the children. The variables which show the most consistent and significant association were birth weight, sex, economic status and education of parents. Conclusion. In this paper, we found that birth weight, economic status and education parents of neonates have directly significant effect on growth childhood period. We recommended that paying attention to these criteria for improving growth of children in our society should be considered by authorities

Global collaboration and social practices to mitigate impacts of COVID-19 in the world: a lived experience of infecting

COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most serious threatening conditions and the complex situation in the recent century, which shook the world. This unprecedented crisis has caused many disruptions and distractions for humans in different local and global levels. This reflexive essay aims to review challenges and opportunities originated by the Corona-virus pandemic within social groups through a moral perspective. Focusing on both negative and positive aspects would help us find the required skills and strategies to adapt to the crises and mitigate the issues based on our capacities and resources

Reading for refusal in UK maternity care: entangling struggles for border and reproductive justice

esearch has shown that women with insecure immigration statuses in the United Kingdom (UK) are more likely to register later in their pregnancy with National Health Service (NHS) maternity care providers. This late engagement with healthcare services is framed in academic debates as one of the key reasons for poor outcomes for these women and their children during and after birth. Interventions, therefore, have focused on how to remove barriers to accessing maternity care for these women. In this paper, we argue that this approach fails to account for the agency of the women adequately, which needs to be understood in the context of state harms and violence towards women with insecure immigration statuses and, in particular, their reproductive lives.We seek to shift these debates by framing this lack of early engagement with state-provided maternity services as a form of refusal that denotes an active disengagement by bordered women from intersecting structures of harm and oppression that are embedded in the UK’s National Health Service, particularly through the charging regime. We argue that the politics of refusal in this case are embedded in struggles not only for border but also reproductive justice. Drawing on participant observation and data from secondary sources, we illustrate how refusal of early antenatal care opens pathways for bordered women to seek the care-ful conditions they need and want during pregnancy

Challenges of Transcultural Caring Among Health Workers in Mashhad-Iran: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND One of the consequences of migration is cultural diversity in various communities. This has created challenges for healthcare systems. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to explore the health care staffs' experience of caring for Immigrants in Mashhad- Iran. SETTING This study is done in Tollab area (wherein most immigrants live) of Mashhad. Clinics and hospitals that immigrants had more referral were selected. PARTICIPANTS Data were collected through in-depth interviews with medical and nursing staffs. 15 participants (7 Doctors and 8 Nurses) who worked in the more referred immigrants' clinics and hospitals were entered to the study. DESIGN This is a qualitative study with content analysis approach. Sampling method was purposive. The accuracy and consistency of data were confirmed. Interviews were conducted until no new data were emerged. Data were analyzed by using latent qualitative content analysis. RESULTS The data analysis consisted of four main categories; (1) communication barrier, (2) irregular follow- up, (3) lack of trust, (4) cultural- personal trait. CONCLUSION Result revealed that health workers are confronting with some trans- cultural issues in caring of immigrants. Some of these issues are related to immigration status and some related to cultural difference between health workers and immigrants. These issues indicate that there is transcultural care challenges in care of immigrants among health workers. Due to the fact that Iran is the context of various cultures, it is necessary to consider the transcultural care in medical staffs. The study indicates that training and development in the area of cultural competence is necessary

Using a participatory approach to encourage uptake of breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening for Scottish Muslim women: a pilot qualitative study

Background Muslim women use cancer screening less often than the general female population, which puts them at risk of delayed detection. We used an asset-based approach to co-design a faith-based intervention to increase uptake of breast, colorectal, and cervical screening in Scottish Muslim women. Methods In this pilot qualitative study, we recruited Muslim women (n=28) of Asian and Arab ethnicity, aged 25–74 years, through snowball sampling from community organisations in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Ten of these women participated in four online workshops in February, 2021, with the aim to codesign the intervention, underpinned by the socio-ecological model and the behaviour change wheel. The final intervention included health education delivered by doctors, testimonials by Muslim women sharing experiences of cancer or screening, and the perspective on cancer screening from a female religious scholar. The intervention was delivered to two groups of eight and ten Muslim women respectively, in March 2021. A week later, the 18 women participated in two focus groups to qualitatively evaluate the intervention. Analyses were conducted thematically. Findings Themes included barriers to screening, acceptability of content and delivery, attitudinal change, and intervention improvement. Participants believed that lack of awareness was an important barrier to screening. They found the intervention informative. They particularly liked the combination of multiple components, including spirituality, culture, and health education. They valued the faith-based element and highlighted how Islam could facilitate overcoming cultural barriers including social stigma, embarrassment, and modesty, although this could vary with different levels of religiosity. Participants also emphasised that faith-based approaches in isolation would not be enough. They appreciated input of trusted sources such as doctors and religious scholars and were especially drawn to personal narratives. Participants expressed preference for face-to-face delivery and advised using translators to overcome language barriers. Interpretation Barriers to screening are complex. Using faith as an asset, integrated with the socio-ecological model and behaviour change wheel, resulted in a holistic intervention tackling multiple barriers, which appealed to participants. Collaborating with communities and faith leaders can help to develop culturally sensitive interventions that harness positive aspects of faith for better health outcomes. Intervention effectiveness needs more robust investigation, which we are undertaking in a feasibility study with 200 Muslim women in northeast England and Scotland

Association of Neonatal Asphyxia With Serum Levels of Heat Shock Protein 27 in a Small Sample of Newborns

Abstract- Neonatal asphyxia is a state of hypoxia and hypercapnia caused by failure to breathe spontaneously and regularly soon after birth. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a ubiquitous and diverse group of highly conserved proteins which are rapidly up-regulated following periods of cellular stress including exposure to heat, ultraviolet irradiation, or chemical toxicity. The aim of the current study was to explore whether there is a relation between serum levels of HSP27 and neonatal asphyxia in a small sample of newborns. A total of 25 healthy newborns and 25 newborns diagnosed with neonatal asphyxia were recruited form Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. The Apgar score was recorded at one minute after delivery by trained nurses and newborns with the Apgar score of less than 7 were considered to be asphyctic. The mean birth weight of newborns in the case and control groups were 3110.47±613.5 g and 3230.4±584.83 g, respectively (P=0.4). Moreover, the mean maternal age of infants in the case group was higher than the mean maternal age of infants in the control group (31.1±6.1 vs. 30.1±5.0). Although it was marginally significant, the level of HSP27 was higher in the case group than the control group (0.23±0.08 vs. 0.19±0.09; P=0.07). Levels of HSP27 were found to be higher in newborns with neonatal asphyxia compared with healthy controls

Comparative Study of Hearing Impairment among Healthy and Intensive Care unit Neonates in Mashhad, North East Iran.

INTRODUCTION According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2001 statistics, hearing disorders are the most common congenital disease, and the incidence rate among high-risk newborns is as much as ten times as high as that in healthy neonates. However, 78% of screening test failures are well-baby nursery babies. The Joint Committee on Infants' Hearing (JCIH) has emphasized the importance of early diagnosis and treatment in neonates with hearing impairments in order to preserve their maximum linguistic skills. The aim of our study was to compare the prevalence of hearing loss among babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the rooming-in unit (RIU). MATERIALS AND METHODS Neonates born in three hospitals in Mashhad between 2008 to 2010 were studied prospectively and screened for auditory disorders using the oto acoustic emission (OAE) test at the time of discharge and 3 weeks later. To confirm hearing loss, the auditory steady state response (ASSR) test was used among those participants who failed both OAE tests. RESULTS Two-thousand and sixty-three neonates from the NICU were screened and compared with a control group consisting of 8,724 neonates from the RIU or the well-baby nursery. At the end of the study, hearing impairment as confirmed by failure in the ASSR test was diagnosed in 31 neonates (26 in the control group [0.30%] and five in the NICU group [1.94%]). CONCLUSION In our study, the prevalence of hearing disorders among NICU neonates was 6.5-times greater than that among babies from the RIU or well-baby unit. This observation demonstrates the importance of universal screening programs particularly for high-risk population neonates