Comparison of cardiac arrhythmia prevalence in smoking and non smoking myocardial infarction patients admitted in Hajar University hospital, Shahrekord, 2006

Smoking is one of the main reversible risk factors for coronary artery disease. Incidence of arrhythmia induced by myocardial infarction is the most important reason for death in these patients. Mortality rate in smoking myocardial infarction patients is grater than non smoking patients, but the aim of this study was to compare the incidence of arrhythmias between smoking and non smoking myocardial infarction patients. In this case and control descriptive analytic study, 200 myocardial infarction patients [100 smoking and 100 non-smoking patients] who were referred to cardiac care unite in Hajar university hospital were selected. Data were collected using questionnaires, filing the form of physiological variables, laboratory findings and finally types of arrhythmias and myocardial infarctions. Data were analyzed by the independent-t test and the Fisher's exact test. The average age in smoking patients was 54.23 +/- 8.12 and it was 55.23 +/- 8.11 in non-smoking patients. Type of myocardial infarctions in 70.5% of the cases was anterior myocardial infarction and the rest was inferior myocardial infarction. Our study showed that the type of arrhythmia in smoking group was different than non-smoking group. Sinus tachycardia, Atrial Flutter, preventricular heart beat, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation were higher in smoking group compared to the non-smoking group [P < 0.05].According to this study, the incidence of arrhythmia in smoking patients with myocardial infarction is greater than non-smoking patients. Therefore, more attention should be focused on smoking patients with myocardial infarction for arrhythmia

[Comparison of the effects of lecture and booklet methods on awareness and attention of parents of children with Thalassemia major]

Thalassemia is one of the most important genetic diseases in Iran. Warning of their parents about their children's disease prevents the related problems and reduces its complications. This study was aimed at comparing the influence of lecture and booklet methods on enhancement of awareness and attentions of parents of children with Thalassemia major. In this interventional study, a total of 90 parents of children with Thalassemia who referred to Hajar hospital for medical treatments, were selected using simple sampling and were randomly divided in three groups of 30 parents. The parents in lecture group attended for seasons of lecture for 30 min. each with 3 weeks interval. A booklet with the same contents as the lecture group was given to the booklet group without any intervention. A questionnaire was designed to gather some information about the disease from parents of all three groups. To determine the statistical relationships, student t-test, Spearman's correlation and of ANOVA tests were used. No significant differences were found among the three groups tested in terms of the mean age, gender, level of education, job, number of affected children, and age of the children. The results showed that the mean of knowledge before and after the education in the lecture group was 10.53 +/- 4.37 and 16.5 +/- 4.73 [P<0.05] and in the booklet group was 10.7 +/- 3.06 and 14.6 +/- 2.7 [P<0.05], respectively. There was no significant difference between lecture and booklet groups based education. After the education, the knowledge in the two groups was significantly more than that in control group [P<0.05]. The results showed that lecture and booklet methods have positive effects on increasing of the parent's knowledge about the disease. Thus, providing of the booklet for the parents, particularly in the region with high prevalence of the disease, is recommended