Longitudinal standards for growth velocity of infants from birth to 4 years born in West Azerbaijan Province of northwest Iran / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: Growth velocity is an important factor to monitor for appropriate child growth. This study presents the growth velocity of infants based on length, weight, and head circumference. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 308 neonates (160 boys and 148 girls) born in West Azerbaijan Province of northwestern Iran who were followed from birth for 4 years. The weights and lengths of the subjects were recorded at birth, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 9 months, and 1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 4 years of age, while the head circumferences were measured just up to 1.5 years of age. In this study, the Lambda-Mu-Sigma (LMS) method using LMS Chartmaker Pro (Institute of Child Health, London, UK) was utilized to obtain growth velocity percentiles. RESULTS: After obtaining growth velocity charts for weight, length, and head circumference (5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles), the researchers could deduce that there was a sharp decrease in the velocity growth charts from birth to 2 years of age but these charts remained relatively stable up to 4 years for both sexes. Growth velocities for the length and weight of boys in the present sample are slightly but not significantly greater than those in girls through the first months of infancy and there was no significant difference between girls and boys up to 4 years. CONCLUSIONS: This paper provided the first local growth velocity standards of length, weight, and head circumference for infants by analyzing longitudinal measurements produced for West Azerbaijan Province, which should be updated periodically. It seems that there has been a significant difference between the growth velocity of infants in northwestern Iran and southern Iran within the past few years.

Breast Cancer Risk Factors in a Defined Population: Weighted Logistic Regression Approach for Rare Events / 한국유방암학회지

PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine out risk factors for female breast cancer in a low socioeconomic population in Iran. METHODS: Between 2007 and 2009, a total of 25,592 women who were ensured by the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation participated in this screening program. The characteristics of patients diagnosed with breast cancer (n=111) were compared with those of control cases (n=25,481). In this study, we used relogit analysis (rare event logistic regression) with a weighting method using program Zelig. RESULTS: Of 25,592 women, 3.9/1,000 had breast cancer, from which 38 were diagnosed during screening and 73 had already been diagnosed. The mean and standard deviation of age in breast cancer patients and in healthy controls were 49.18+/-8.86 years and 46.65+/-9.40 years, respectively. The findings based on the multivariate model revealed that the past history of ovarian cancer, hormone therapy, and first relatives with breast cancer were associated with increased risk for breast cancer. However, the use of oral contraceptive pills was found to be associated with reduced risk for breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Due to the rarity of the event in the population, relogit with a weighting method was used to investigate the major risk factors for breast cancer. These factors include oral contraceptive pill use, a history of ovarian cancer of the person under study, first relatives with breast cancer and hormone therapy.