Trend of suicide in Iran during 2009 to 2012: Epidemiological evidences from national suicide registration

Background: Suicide behaviors cause a large portion of Disability adjusted life years worldwide. Objectives: The aim of this research was to study the trend, correlations and discrepancy of registered suicide incidents in Iran from 2009 to 2012 using data from the Iranian suicide registry. Materials and Methods: Suicide registry entries throughout the country between 2009 and 2012, including suicidal attempts and suicides, were collected. Data on age, gender, occupational, marital and residential status along with suicide method, history of previous attempt and history of medical or mental disorders were registered by health service provision staff at the service centers. Geographic mapping and statistical analysis were performed. Results: Amongst the 252911 attempted suicides during the period, we found suicide attempt and suicide rate of 30.5 - 44.8 and 1.76 - 2.23 per 100000 individuals, respectively, denoting overall suicide fatality rate of 2.63. The rate of suicide attempt in different provinces ranged between 0.7 and 271.1 and the rate of suicide between 0.17 and 17.7 per 100000 individuals. Attempted suicides showed more fatality in males, elderly, widow/widowers, divorced and unemployed subjects as well as in residents of rural areas. The most common attempt methods were medication overdose (84), and the mostcommonsuicide methods were hanging (30.3), medications overdose (28.1) and self-burning (17.9); these methods are found at different rates in various parts of the world. Conclusions: While the registry could provide us the most valid data on suicide, the wide range of suicide and suicide attempt rates in different provinces not only could question this statement but also could highlight the importance of studying the ethnic/geographic variations in suicide epidemiology with improved suicide registry and surveillance systems. � 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

Low-level laser therapy versus local steroid injection in patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome: a single blind randomized comparative trial

The objective of this study was to compare corticosteroid injection with low-level laser therapy for the short-term treatment of mild or moderate idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome. Single blind randomized clinical trial was conducted from May 2010 to October 2010 in outpatient clinic and research center at a university hospital. Thirty-eight patients (female to male ratio was 5.3 to 1) with a new episode of carpal tunnel syndrome of mild or moderate severity participated in this study. Corticosteroid injection and low level laser therapy were used as the interventions. Primary outcome measure was the severity of the disease. Based on the electrophysiological findings, we proposed three grades: mild, moderate and severe. Visual analogue scores were used to measure subjective severity of pain. We measured median distal motor and sensory latencies. All participants were followed for two months. Analyses showed favorable outcomes in both groups in terms of visual analogue scores and median distal motor and sensory latencies (p<0.001 for all comparisons). Electrophysiologic studies did not imply any significant difference in the severity (Chi-squared test p = 0.28), and change in the grade of the disease between the two groups. Also there was no significant difference between the groups in mean visual analogue scores (Mann-Whitney test p = 0.45), median motor distal latency (Mann- Whitney test p = 0.08), and sensory distal latency (Mann-Whitney test p = 0.70), 8 weeks after the treatments. Both corticosteroid and laser are advantageous in the short-term treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome and provide satisfactory pain relief, electrophysiological improvement, and are well tolerated by patients.Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome; Low level laser; Corticosteroid; Median nerve; Electrophysiologic studies; Peripheral compression neuropathy; Randomized clinical trial; Hydrocortison