An epidemiological analysis of cancer data in an Iranian hospital during the last three decades.

Cancer is the third leading cause of death in Iranian population. Descriptive epidemiology provides a better understanding of the etiology of cancer and the development strategies. The objective of this study was to collect analysis of data and discuss certain epidemiologic features of neoplasm using data from hospital. Records of 14,540 patients diagnosed for cancer during the time period 1973-2003, who were referred to the department of radiation oncology were studied. The tumors were coded and classified according to the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision and ICD-O. SPSS version 10 was used for statistical analysis. In this study the frequency distribution of cancer patients were computed by age of diagnosis, gender, and anatomical sites. There were 8,178 male patients (56%) and 6,365 females (44%) with a male female ratio of 1.29. Mean age was 44.5?21.6 with a median of 47 years. The mean age of diagnosis for females (43.8.?.19.7) was significantly lower than that of males (45.0?23.1) (P<0.05). The ten most frequent cancer sites among patients were breast (13.6%), brain &CNS (13.6%), skin(13.5%), haemapoitic system(9.7%), lymphoid (7.1%), esophagus (7.1%), colon & rectum (4%), male genital organs (1.3%), bladder (1.3%), lung (1.2%), and stomach (1%). These accounted for 81% of all cases. It was found that 41% of women's cancers were in the breast, female genital organs compared to 7.3%in male genital organs and breast. All tumors except the breast, female genital organs, thyroid, gallbladder and kidney cancers, were more frequent in males compared to women. The frequency of patients with cancers increased with age in both sexes. Overall 53% of cases were between 40-63 years of age. For those aged 54 and below the male to female ratio was 0.99, while after this age the ratio rose to 1.61. About 16.6% of tumors occurred in children aged 15 years or younger. More than four fifths (81%) of patients with cancer of haematopoeitic system were under age of 15 years. In conclusion, the results of this study present an important epidemiological understanding of patients with tumors. It emphasizes that gender plays an important role in the frequency of primary tumors, and how much the sex ratio varies with some types of tumors. We also noted that certain tumor types show a prediction for certain decades of life in our series.

Reproductive characteristics and the risk of breast cancer--a case-control study in Iran.

Breast cancer is a common malignancy for women in most parts of the world and the incidence in Iranian women is growing. The patients are relatively younger than their western counterparts. The present hospital based case-control study was designed to determine roles of reproductive factors for breast cancer among women in Iran. Conducted at a teaching hospital in Tehran, Iran, in 2004, the study covered a total of 303 cases of breast cancer and 303 healthy controls. Cases were identified through the Oncology Department of a university hospital and controls were collected from other wards or out-patient clinics at the same hospital. Control subjects were matched to patients for age. Informed consent was obtained from all cases and controls then demographic and reproductive factors were ascertained by in-person interview using a constructed questionnaire. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals for breast cancer were derived using logistic regression analysis. The mean +/-SD ages of cases and controls were 48.8 +/- 9.8 and 50.2 +/- 11.1 years, respectively, (range 24-84). The final model for multiple analysis indicated that never married, post menopause, age at first live birth, number of live births, use of oral contraceptive pills, and history of chest X-rays between adolescence and 30 yrs of age, were significantly associated with breast cancer. Variables such as higher education, early age at menarche, abortion, breast feeding and its duration were not significant risk factors.

Comparison of awareness, attitude, and professional function of graduates and senior nursing students

Nurses are the biggest group of health system professionals and have a considerable effect on the quality of the health care currently being provided. To investigate awareness, attitude, and professional function of nurses from the view points' of person himself colleagues, instructors and service consumers [patients]. This research is a cross-sectional study carried out to compare the awareness, attitude, and function in employed nurses and senior nursing students. Subjects of the study were 54 employed nurses who had B.S degree from Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and had been in service for4 to 6 years in internal or surgery wards in one of the University's hospitals and were steel working at the time of the study. Subjects were chosen with purpose based sampling method and were compared with 54 senior university students from the faculty of nursing and midwifery who were ready to pass their training period in internal or surgery wards and were chosen randomly. The tools for collecting data were 4 questionnaires on the degree of awareness, attitude, professional functioning, and the viewpoints of patients, supervisors, and instructors. Mean score of awareness for the nurses and students was 63.7 +/- 3.2 and 45.3 +/- 2.1 respectively [P < 0.005]. Regarding internal and surgical hare and updates of nursing, the score of the nurses has been higher generally [P < 0.005]. But about paediatrics, health, and psychological nursing the two groups' were almost alike. 52% of all the persons studied had a positive attitude toward nursing and 46% of them were indifferent. From the patients' point of view all the nurses and students function was evaluated in a good level. But supervisors considered employed nurses better than the students with mean scores of 56.2 +/- 4 and 53.4 +/- 6 respectively. [P < 0.002] In subgroups' of care and treatment, education and personal characteristics, there was no meaningful difference between supervisors and instructors opinions. This research showed that employed nurses and students of nursing in Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences had a good level of awareness and mostly a positive attitude toward nursing. Patients had a favourable opinions about giving services and the behaviour of nurses and students