Knowledge of and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS among Iranian women / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES@#This study investigated the knowledge of Iranian women about HIV/AIDS and whether they had accepting attitudes towards people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and sought to identify factors correlated with their knowledge and attitudes.@*METHODS@#The data analyzed in the present study were taken from Iran's Multiple Indicator Demographic and Health Survey, a national survey conducted in 2015. In total, 42,630 women aged 15–49 years were identified through multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling and interviewed. Associations of the socio-demographic characteristics of participants with their knowledge and attitudes were examined using multiple logistic regression analysis.@*RESULTS@#The majority (79.0%) of Iranian women had heard about HIV/AIDS, but only 19.1% had a comprehensive knowledge. In addition, only 15.4% of women had accepting attitudes toward people with HIV. Being older, married, more highly educated, and wealthier were factors associated with having more comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and living in urban areas was associated with having more positive attitudes toward people with HIV.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The relatively poor knowledge of Iranian women and the low prevalence of accepting attitudes toward people living with HIV highlight the need to develop policies and interventions to overcome this issue, which would be a basis for further prevention of HIV/AIDS in Iran.

Knowledge of and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS among Iranian women / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the knowledge of Iranian women about HIV/AIDS and whether they had accepting attitudes towards people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and sought to identify factors correlated with their knowledge and attitudes. METHODS: The data analyzed in the present study were taken from Iran's Multiple Indicator Demographic and Health Survey, a national survey conducted in 2015. In total, 42,630 women aged 15–49 years were identified through multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling and interviewed. Associations of the socio-demographic characteristics of participants with their knowledge and attitudes were examined using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The majority (79.0%) of Iranian women had heard about HIV/AIDS, but only 19.1% had a comprehensive knowledge. In addition, only 15.4% of women had accepting attitudes toward people with HIV. Being older, married, more highly educated, and wealthier were factors associated with having more comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and living in urban areas was associated with having more positive attitudes toward people with HIV. CONCLUSIONS: The relatively poor knowledge of Iranian women and the low prevalence of accepting attitudes toward people living with HIV highlight the need to develop policies and interventions to overcome this issue, which would be a basis for further prevention of HIV/AIDS in Iran.

Knowledge of and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS among Iranian women / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the knowledge of Iranian women about HIV/AIDS and whether they had accepting attitudes towards people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and sought to identify factors correlated with their knowledge and attitudes.METHODS: The data analyzed in the present study were taken from Iran's Multiple Indicator Demographic and Health Survey, a national survey conducted in 2015. In total, 42,630 women aged 15–49 years were identified through multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling and interviewed. Associations of the socio-demographic characteristics of participants with their knowledge and attitudes were examined using multiple logistic regression analysis.RESULTS: The majority (79.0%) of Iranian women had heard about HIV/AIDS, but only 19.1% had a comprehensive knowledge. In addition, only 15.4% of women had accepting attitudes toward people with HIV. Being older, married, more highly educated, and wealthier were factors associated with having more comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and living in urban areas was associated with having more positive attitudes toward people with HIV.CONCLUSIONS: The relatively poor knowledge of Iranian women and the low prevalence of accepting attitudes toward people living with HIV highlight the need to develop policies and interventions to overcome this issue, which would be a basis for further prevention of HIV/AIDS in Iran.

[ prevalence of defensive medicine behaviors among surgeons, its causes and potential reduction solutions: a cross-sectional study in Iran]

Introduction: defensive Medicine [DM] is defined as the deviation of a doctor from his or her usual behavior, and its aim to reduce or prevent complaints from patients or their families. This study aimed to investigate DM behaviors of the surgeons participating in the 41st Congress of Iranian Association of Surgeons [TAS] in 2017

Methods: in this cross-sectional study, 160 surgeons were selected using convenience sampling. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 60 items including 4 parts [demographic characteristics, the prevalence of DM behaviors, its causes and potential reduction solutions] that its validity and reliability were confirmed. For data analysis, descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation in SPSS 21 software were used

Results: the prevalence of positive and negative DM behaviors was 100 and 80%, respectively. The most common positive DM behaviors included ordering unnecessary biopsy, imaging, and laboratory tests, and avoiding caring for high-risk patients and refusal to admit patients with a specific social status were the most common negative DM behaviors among surgeons. Lack of support of physicians by health system rules and regulations in adverse situations and fear of patient's claim were the most important reason for DM behaviors. The most effective potential solutions to the DM reduction were team decision-making in case of complex patients, modification of the law's view on medical malpractice as a crime, and more support of the legislature

Conclusion: all surveyed surgeons showed at least one of the varieties of DM behaviors, ultimately leading to increased health care costs and resources wasting as well as having negative impact on patient safety. Applying strategies such as modification of the medical malpractice rules and regulations, increasing supervision and monitoring of service provision, establishing appropriate adverse events reporting systems and blame-free culture, developing and implementing evidence-based medicine in practice and re- forming of medical liability insurance can be effective steps in reducing DM behaviors

Cost of Tuberculosis Treatment: Evidence from Iran’s Health System

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to estimate the cost of smear-positive drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) treatment of the patients in the Azadshahr district, Golestan Province, Iran. METHODS: In this retrospective study, all new smear positive pulmonary TB patients who had been registered at the district’s health network between April, 2013 and December, 2015 and had successfully completed their treatment were entered into the study (45 patients). Treatment costs were estimated from the provider’s perspective using an activity-based costing (ABC) method. RESULTS: The cost of treating a new smear-positive pulmonary TB patient was US dollar (USD) 1,409.00 (Iranian Rial, 39,438,260), which can be divided into direct and indirect costs (USD 1,226.00 [87%] and USD 183.00 [13%], respectively). The highest cost (58.1%) was related to care and management of TB patients (including 46.1% human resources costs and 12% directly-observed treatment, short course implementation) and then respectively related to hospitalization (12.1%), supportive activity centers (11.4%), transportation (6.5%), medicines (5.3%), and laboratory tests and radiography (3.2%). CONCLUSION: Using disease-specific cost studies can help the healthcare system management to have correct insight into the financial burden created by the disease. This can subsequently be used in prioritization, planning, operational budgeting, economic evaluation of programs, interventions, and ultimately in disease management.