Cerebral Palsy in 1-12 Year Old Children in Southern Iran

How to Cite This Article: Inaloo S, Katibeh P, Ghasemof M. Cerebral Palsy in 1-12 Year Old Children in Southern Iran. Iran J Child Neurol. Winter 2016; 10(1):35-41.AbstractObjectiveCerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive CNS disorder due to an insult to the growing brain, usually occurring in the first two years of life. During the recent years, its etiology has been changed; perinatal and postnatal insults are not considered as its main causes in developed countries any more. The aim of this study was to evaluate the causes of CP in children in southern Iran.Materials & MethodsOverall, 200 children with CP aged 1-12 yr old referring to Pediatric Neurology Clinic affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran between 2012 and 2013 were enrolled. In addition, 200 healthy age and sex-matched children were considered as the control group. Exclusion criteria were isolated movement disorders with no other evidence of CP, progressive neurologic disorders, metabolic disorders, and incomplete or uncertain past history. After collecting the data on pregnancy period, prenatal history and past medical problems, they were analyzed with appropriate statistical methods.ResultsMaternal age, medical problems during pregnancy period, route of delivery, head circumference at birth, neonatal admission, neonatal jaundice, and prematurity were the main risk factors for CP.DiscussionThe distribution of risk factors of CP is different from that of developed countries in our region. Pre- and peri-natal etiologies are still among the common causes of CP in Iran

Evaluation of the quality of life in epileptic children of Shiraz, Southern Iran

Introduction: People  suffer chronic disease like epilepsy are highly prone to debilitating changes in factors that affect the quality of life such as physical capacity, self-esteem, relationships with others and fulfillment of their daily life activities.  In this study, we decided to evaluate the quality of life in children with epilepsy in Shiraz, South Iran. Methods: Epileptic patients  referred to epilepsy clinic of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and had no first time episode of seizures in the previous 6 months and no febrile-seizure were included in the study. Patients were evaluated using the standard KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the statistical software SPSS 21, Man Whitney and Chi-square tests and reported in terms of descriptive statistics. The  significance level was considered less than 0.05. Results: In this case-control study, 229 children with epilepsy were compared with a control group of 400 normal individuals. The mean age  was 12.44±3.16 and 12.10±2.69 years. The tonic-clonic seizure had the highest prevalence . Being a boy, older age and having more seizures per year were associated with lower quality of life; in general, epileptic children had significantly lower QOL compared to normal cases. Conclusion: In general, epileptic children had an overall lower QOL while factors such as older age, male gender, and higher number of seizures over the years reduced the quality of life of these patients. 

"Planning eye health services in Varamin district, Iran: a cross-sectional study".

BACKGROUND: A recent survey of avoidable blindness in Varamin District, Iran, identified moderately high levels of visual impairment (10%) and blindness (1.5%) in people >50 years. This study aimed to define current provision, identify gaps and suggest practical solutions for improving eye health services in this area. METHODS: The World Health Organization (WHO) framework for analyzing health systems has several key components: service delivery, health workforce, information system, medical products and technologies, financing, and governance. We used this structure to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the eye health system in Varamin. All public and private eye care facilities and a random selection of primary health care (PHC) units were assessed using semi-structured researcher-administered questionnaires. RESULTS: Varamin has 16 ophthalmic clinics, including two secondary hospitals that provide cataract surgery. There were ten ophthalmologists (1:68,000 population), two ophthalmic nurses and five optometrists working in Varamin district. There were no eye care social or community workers, ophthalmic counsellors, low vision rehabilitation staff. Although the Vision 2020 target for ophthalmologists has been met, numbers of other eye care staff were insufficient. The majority of patients travel to Tehran for surgery. The recent survey identified cataract as the leading cause of blindness, despite the availability of surgical services in the district and high health insurance coverage. Poor awareness is a major barrier. No units had a written blindness prevention plan, formal referral pathways or sufficient eye health promotion activities. Only one of the PHC units referred people with diabetes for retinal examination. There is partial integration between eye care services and the general health system particularly for prevention of childhood blindness: chemo-prophylaxis for ophthalmia neonatorum, school vision tests, measles immunization and Vitamin A supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis demonstrated the need for better integration between eye care services and the general health system, local planning for prevention of blindness, an information system, a better staff mix and health education to increase community awareness and service uptake. There is the capacity to deliver far more surgery locally. All aspects of a health system need to be developed to deliver comprehensive and efficient eye care

Cataract Surgical Coverage in Kurdistan, Iran

This is a Letter to the Editor and does not have an abstract. Please download the PDF or view the article HTML

Work history and diagnosed hypertension among older adults in Ghana: evidence from WHO SAGE Wave2

Introduction There is limited knowledge in the context of Africa on how work history associates with hypertension at old age. Therefore, this paper analyses such an association using Ghana as a case study. Methods Data from the World Health Organisation Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health Wave 2 was used to explore the relationship between work history and diagnosed hypertension at old age. In the Wave2 study, a multistage cluster sampling was used to select participants at the household level across rural/urban areas in all administrative regions. A multifactor logit regression analysis was performed. The paper also estimated diagnosed hypertension prevalence across subgroups. Results The mean age of the total of 3564 participants examined was 64 years (SD = ±10years). The overall prevalence of hypertension was 10.3% [95% CI = 9.4–11.1]. The highest predicted rate was 41.1% [95% CI=38.0 – 49.2] among those who stopped working before the statutory retirement age 60 years, whereas it was only 4% [95% CI = 3.7 – 5.2] for those who retired from active work at age 60 years. Those who retired at age <60years recorded the highest risk of hypertension diagnosis [OR = 14.1; 95% CI=10.5-19.5]. There was also a significant association between diagnosed hypertension and a history of working <5 days per week [OR=1.6; 95% CI=1.1-2.3]. It emerged that those with a history of informal sector employment were at significant risk of hypertension at old age, if they worked <5days per week [OR=1.5; 95% CI=1.0-2.3]. Conclusions Overall, retirement age emerged as a significant risk factor for diagnosed hypertension at old age, followed by a history of less than five working days per week