ABSTRACT
Introduction and Aims: Musculoskeletal disorders [MSDs] are one of the most important injuries of occupational health. This study was conducted with the objectives of determination of musculoskeletal disorders symptoms and ergonomics assessment of the risk of MSDs in paddy workers of Marvdasht city
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed among 300 male paddy workers with at least one year of job tenure. Nordic musculoskeletal disorders questionnaire [NMQ] and QEC method were used for determination of prevalence and risk assessment of MSDs respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS v.19 using statistical tests including Mann-Whitney U and Chi-square
Results: The results of this study showed that the feet [77.3 percent], lower back [73.3 percent] and wrist/hand [72 percent] had highest prevalence of symptoms of MSDs among workers. There was a significant association between the prevalence of these disorders and age, weight, height, job tenure and marital status. QEC technique showed that 65 percent of studied workers were in high and very high level of exposure to musculoskeletal risks
Chi- square statistical test revealed that between musculoskeletal symptoms and QEC risk level had no association. But, the results of this section showed that with increasing the QEC risk level, occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms will be increased
Conclusion: The prevalence of MSDs among studied workers is high. According to these results, awkward posture, lifting and carrying of heavy loads and flexion and twisting in lower back are the most common ergonomics problems in studied workers
ABSTRACT
Human Papilloma Virus [HPV] vaccine has been added recently to the Iran Drug List. So, decision makers need information beyond that available from RCTs to recommend funding for this vaccination program to add it to the National Immunization program in Iran. Modeling and economic studies have addressed some of those information needs in foreign countries. In order to determine the long term benefit of this vaccine and impact of vaccine program on the future rate of cervical cancer in Iran, we described a model, based on the available economic and health effects of human papilloma virus [HPV], to estimate the cost-effectiveness of HPV vaccination of 15-year-old girls in Iran. Our objective is to estimate the cost-effectiveness of HPV vaccination in Iran against cervical cancer based on available data; incremental cost-effectiveness ratio [ICER] calculations were based on a model comparing a cohort of 15-year-old girls with and without vaccination. We developed a static model based on available data in Iran on the epidemiology of HPV related health outcome. The model compared the cohort of all 15-year old girls alive in the year 2013 with and without vaccination. The cost per QALY, which was found based on our assumption for the vaccination of 15-years old girl to current situation was 439,000,000 Iranian Rial rate [IRR]. By considering the key parameters in our sensitivity analysis, value varied from 251,000,000 IRR to 842,000,000 IRR. In conclusion, quadrivalent HPV vaccine [Gardasil] is not cost-effective in Iran based on the base-case parameters value
ABSTRACT
The present study aimed to provide an estimation of the current financial burden of renal transplantation therapy for insurance organisations. An Excel-based model was developed to determine the treatment costs of current clinical practice in renal transplantation therapy [RTT]. Inputs were derived from Ministry of Health and insurance organizations' database, hospital and pharmacy records, clinical trials and available literature. A one-way sensitivity analysis and Monte-Carlo simulation were performed to illustrate total cost changes made by cost components and to test the reliability of model probabilities respectively. According to the model, 2200 patients received RTT in the study year which resulted in the first year total treatment cost of almost $14,000,000. These costs corresponded to annual total cost per patient of almost $6500 for the payers. According to the results of the study, treatment cost per patient in RTT is almost $6500 for the payers in Iran. Although RTT is almost fully reimbursed by government in Iran, an improvement in insurance decision making especially regarding new effective immunosuppressive drugs is quite necessary for controlling growing trends of OOP expenditures in these patients. The present study aimed to improve efficiency in budget allocation by providing insurance decision makers with an estimation of financial impact of current clinical practice in RTT, making it possible for them to compare current financial burden of the disease with the future cost burden of including newly submitted drugs to their formulary in RTT and also provided practical policy making recommendations in the end