[Effect of Depo-Provera on depression rate in the women referring to the health center of Babol city]

In the recent century, rapid growth of population is a threat to human life. Family planning has been of great benefit to family health. Thirteen million women in the world use Depo-Provera as a contraceptive method. Different studies have reported development of depression in Depo-Provera users, and some articles reported that they are ineffective on mood. Therefore assessment of Depo-Provera effects on mood is important. Depression in women can lead to physical, psychological and social reactions. Therefore we decided to assess the effect of Depo-Provera on depression rate in the health center of Babol City. This study was a Quazi-experimental study. 64 women completed a questionnaire consisted of demographic data before Depo-Provera injection and also Beck Standard Questionnaire before and 3 months after Depo-Provera injection at the health center of Babol City. For data analysis we used Wilcoxon and Fisher's exact tests. Mean score of depression symptoms before Depo-Provera injection was 6.50 +/- 8.2 but three month after injection it was 4.50 +/- 6.6 which had a significant difference [p=0.001]. Age, education, satisfaction of husband's job, husband's literacy, husband's aid at home, satisfaction with the marital life, family class, family income, child abortion history, outcome of recent pregnancy, satisfaction in relationship with parents in childhood, satisfaction in relationship with family members, support from the family and relatives, satisfaction in relationship with friends and worrisome events during the last year showed no significant relationship with depression before and after Depo-Provea injections. But satisfaction with husband's family [p=0.034] and history of depression [p=0.026] had a significant relationship with depression before loss of independency and depression before and after Depo-Provera injection [p=0.024, p=0.001]. The results of this study showed lack of deterioration of depression by Depo-Provera injections. Therefore appropriate consultation can lead to increased use of Depo-Provera

association between prenatal anxiety and spontaneous preterm birth and low birth weight

The effect of psychological factors on preterm delivery is still inconsistent. It was shown that psychological factors to increase maternal corticotrophin-releasing factor to play an important role in preterm delivery. This study was conducted to determine the effect of prenatal anxiety on spontaneous preterm delivery and low birth weight [LBW] in Babol, Northern Iran. 682 women with singleton pregnancies who were consecutively recruited between 20 and 28 weeks of gestation in Babol Health Care centers for prenatal care were enrolled. Women who had history of psychological and chronic diseases, pregnancy complications and taking medicine were excluded from the study. The gestational age was based on last menstrual period or ultrasound examination in first half of pregnancy. Anxiety was assessed using self-administered questionnaires: the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The women were considered as case group with anxiety score >/= 45. The mean Spielberger state and trait anxiety in women with preterm delivery were respectively 42.7 +/- 10.8 and 52.9 +/- 3.9, but the mean Spielberger state and trait anxiety in women with term delivery were respectively 37.81 +/- 5.71 and 50.68 +/- 5.20. A significant association was found between scores for both Spielberger state anxiety and trait anxiety >/= 45 and preterm and LBW. A high score state anxiety [>/= 45] was significantly associated with an increase in preterm delivery. Screening for mental and psychological disorders among women in regular prenatal care is recommended

[ survey on knowledge and practice of mothers in prevention and care of diarrhea diseases in children under five years [Babol; 2002-2003]]

Mortality, which caused by diarrhea and unnecessary hospital admission, can be decreased by simple, available and effective methods and mothers have an important role in this regard. This descriptive and analytical study was randomly performed on 250 mothers who had children under 5 years of age. Data were collected by questionnaire and then analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi- square test and correlation coefficient. The knowledge of mothers towards diarrhea [84%] was moderate and their practice [50%] was low. There was a significant relationship between the knowledge and practice of mothers with variables as occupation, educational level, husband 's job and education, place of living, income, numbers of children, age of child, birth interval of children, history of diarrhea in child, information on taking care of child during diarrhea and the most important source of information. Also, there was a significant relationship between knowledge of mothers with sex of child and their practice with age [p<0.05]. There was a significant linear relationship between knowledge and practice of mothers [r=0.385, p= 0.000]