Application of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument, Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF) to patients with cataract / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: Cataract is a prevalent disease in the elderly, and negatively influences patients' quality of life. This study was conducted to study the application of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument, Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF) to patients with cataract. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 300 patients with cataract were studied in Neyshabur, Iran from July to October 2014. The Iranian version of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to measure their quality of life. Cronbach's alpha coefficient, Pearson's correlation coefficient, the paired t-test, the independent t-test, and a linear regression model were used to analyze the data in SPSS version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 68.11±11.98 years, and most were female (53%). The overall observed Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the WHOQOL-BREF was 0.889, ranging from 0.714 to 0.810 in its four domains. The total mean score of the respondents on the WHOQOL-BREF was 13.19. The highest and lowest mean scores were observed in the social relationship domain (14.11) and the physical health domain (12.29), respectively. A backward multiple linear regression model found that duration of disease and marital status were associated with total WHOQOL scores, while age, duration of disease, marital status, and income level were associated with domains one through four, respectively (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The reliability analysis conducted in this study indicated that the WHOQOL-BREF scale exhibited an acceptable degree of internal consistency in the measurement of the quality of life of patients with cataract. It was also found that the patients with cataract who were surveyed reported a relatively moderate quality of life.

Cancer incidence and prevalence in Isfahan: application of mortality data to estimates and projects for the period 2001-2015

The aim of this study was to show up-to-date estimates of incidence and prevalence in Isfahan for all cancers, except non-melanoma skin cancer over the period 2001-2010 to provide projections up to 2015, based on a statistical method that uses mortality and cancer patients' survival data. Mortality data in Isfahan province were collected from various sources such as hospitals, medical forensic, cemetery, and health centers. In addition, population data by sex, age, location, and calendar year in the period of 2001-2010 were acquired from the Statistical Center of Iran. Relative survival probabilities for all cancers combined and for selected specific cancers were estimated based on observed cancer death and expected mortality data. Incidence and prevalence estimates were computed with Mortality-incidence Analysis Model [MIAMOD] method. The estimated age-standardized cancer incidence rate had higher increase rate for urban females than for males. Also, the number of prevalent cancers was higher among females, which was mostly due to better cancer survival rates in women. Age-adjusted incidence was estimated to increase by 6.9 and 8.7 per 100000 annually, between 2001 and 2015, in males and females, respectively. The prevalence is to increase by 24 and 40 and mortality by 2.8 and 2.5 per 100000 between 2001 and 2015. The present study does not only show the incidence and prevalence estimates of all cancers combined, but also gives information about cancer burden, which can be used as a bases for planning healthcare management and allocating recourses in public health