Evaluation of quality of life in diabetic pregnant women.

AIMS: Gestational diabetes is the most common clinical complication during pregnancy. Women with gestational diabetes face many problems in their personal, family and social lives that affect their quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of diabetic pregnant women. METHODS: This study was a descriptive study and the study population was all diabetic pregnant women referred to health centers in Kermanshah, Iran in 2019-2020. The studied variables were collected using a short form of quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF-26 items). Then, with the help of SPSS software version 25, data analysis was performed based on frequency table and independent t-test. RESULTS: 101 pregnant women with gestational diabetes were studied. Their mean age was 33.06 ± 05.05 years. The quality of life of all mothers participating in the study was above average. The average quality of life and psychological domains, social and environmental relationships of mothers were higher in people with higher incomes and employment, and also the average quality of life and psychological domains, social and environmental relationships were higher in mothers who had less than 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of mothers were overweight (BMI = 25-29.9) and obese (BMI ≥ 30), which is one of the most important risk factors for gestational diabetes. Given the importance of quality of life of pregnant mothers, health policy makers are asked to provide more training for pregnant mothers on nutrition and increased physical activity to prevent gestational diabetes and improve their quality of life.

Escitalopram and progressive muscle relaxation training are both effective for the treatment of hot flashes in patients with breast cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Available treatments for hot flashes in patients with breast cancer are not always tolerable or effective for all patients. METHODS: Patients diagnosed to have primary breast cancer were randomly allocated to receive 10 mg of escitalopram, placebo, or progressive muscle relaxation therapy. Patients were asked to report the frequency and duration of hot flashes during day and night, at baseline and after ten weeks of treatment, and completed the menopause rating scale. RESULTS: Eighty-two patients were randomly assigned to receive escitalopram (n = 26), PMRT (n = 28), and placebo (n = 28). PMRT and escitalopram could effectively decrease number and duration of diurnal and nocturnal HFs in patients with breast cancer, with a better effect observed from escitalopram. They could both decrease the total score of MRS. CONCLUSION: Both escitalopram ad PMRT can reveal nocturnal and diurnal HFs in terms of frequency and duration in patients with breast cancer.

Association of cardiac enzymes with morbidity and mortality of patients undergoing coronary endarterectomy surgery.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between cardiac enzyme release following coronary endarterectomy (CE) and morbidity and mortality is unclear. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association of cardiac enzymes with morbidity and mortality of patients undergoing CE surgery. METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective cohort study of 475 patients who had undergone off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (OPCABG). The patients were followed up for a mean of 72.99 ± 14.60 months. RESULTS: Among 475 patients undergoing OPCABG, 39 (8.2%) were non-survivors. Non-survivors were younger and had a fewer ejection fraction (EF). Comorbidities were similar in survivors and non-survivors. The crude Cox regression analysis showed that creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) had a protective effect against mortality, but when adjusted with age, sex, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN), hyperlipidemia, smoking, family history, body mass index (BMI), left main disease (LMD), and EF, this effect disappeared. Troponin in crude and adjusted analysis did not have any significant effect. CONCLUSION: There is no association between CK-MB and troponin and mortality in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).

The prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression within front-line healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-regression.

BACKGROUND: Stress, anxiety, and depression are some of the most important research and practice challenges for psychologists, psychiatrists, and behavioral scientists. Due to the importance of issue and the lack of general statistics on these disorders among the Hospital staff treating the COVID-19 patients, this study aims to systematically review and determine the prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression within front-line healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients. METHODS: In this research work, the systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression approaches are used to approximate the prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression within front-line healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients. The keywords of prevalence, anxiety, stress, depression, psychopathy, mental illness, mental disorder, doctor, physician, nurse, hospital staff, 2019-nCoV, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 and Coronaviruses were used for searching the SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, ScienceDirect, Embase, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science (ISI) and Google Scholar databases. The search process was conducted in December 2019 to June 2020. In order to amalgamate and analyze the reported results within the collected studies, the random effects model is used. The heterogeneity of the studies is assessed using the I2 index. Lastly, the data analysis is performed within the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. RESULTS: Of the 29 studies with a total sample size of 22,380, 21 papers have reported the prevalence of depression, 23 have reported the prevalence of anxiety, and 9 studies have reported the prevalence of stress. The prevalence of depression is 24.3% (18% CI 18.2-31.6%), the prevalence of anxiety is 25.8% (95% CI 20.5-31.9%), and the prevalence of stress is 45% (95% CI 24.3-67.5%) among the hospitals' Hospital staff caring for the COVID-19 patients. According to the results of meta-regression analysis, with increasing the sample size, the prevalence of depression and anxiety decreased, and this was statistically significant (P < 0.05), however, the prevalence of stress increased with increasing the sample size, yet this was not statistically significant (P = 0.829). CONCLUSION: The results of this study clearly demonstrate that the prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression within front-line healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients is high. Therefore, the health policy-makers should take measures to control and prevent mental disorders in the Hospital staff.

Validation of the Persian version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in elderly population.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in the elderly population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A methodological study was conducted as a confirmatory factor analysis. Totally, 598 elderly people were selected through cluster sampling. In addition to analyzing the three-factor structure of PSQI, internal consistency reliability, structural validity, and its concurrent validity were examined. The structural credibility of PSQI was examined using other similar tools such as Sleep Health, Epworth Sleepiness, Insomnia Severity, Global Sleep Assessment, and Berlin indices. Finally, the concurrent criterion validity of PSQI was evaluated through multivariable regression analysis and all statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS and AMOS software. RESULTS: The reliability of the test according to Cronbach's alpha was 0.81. Confirmatory factor analysis indicators supported goodness of fit of the structural equation model. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the ratio of χ2/ DF was 2.66 for the three-factor structure of PSQI and the goodness of fit indices of model were acceptable for this structural model (RMSEA=0.053, CFI=0.98, TLI=0.96, NFI=0.97, GFI=0.99). In addition, the internal consistency of the PSQI was 0.81 and the scales correlation score ranged from 0.48 to 0.71. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that Persian version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index had the required validity and reliability for the elderly population of Iran and it can be used as a useful tool by other studies.

An epidemiological survey of psychiatric disorders in Iran: Kermanshah.

BACKGROUND: There is no population based study about prevalence of psychiatric conditions in Kermanshah. A screening study reported the rate of 39.1% for psychiatric disorders. METHODS: This is the second phase of a larger study. From those with a positive screening, 15% were randomly selected and interviewed face-to-face at home by trained clinical psychologists with Farsi version of the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID) I and II. RESULTS: The original sample was 2102 participants, from those 319 individuals were interviewed. Only 15 participants (4.7% of the positively screened sample) had a negative result. Major depressive disorder (8.3%), generalized anxiety disorder (4.7%), obsessive compulsive disorder (4.6%) and obsessive compulsive personality disorder (3.3%) were the most common disorders diagnosed within this sample. CONCLUSION: This population based study gives prevalence rates for psychiatric disorders in Kermanshah for the first time. Results can be the basis for health care policy makers and further studies.

Validation of the Farsi version of the revised Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale (ASHSr): a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Restoring sleep is associated with a broad variety of favorable cognitive, emotional, social and behavioral benefits during the day. This holds particularly true for adolescents, as maturational, social, cognitive, emotional and behavioral changes might unfavorably impact on adolescents' sleep. Among adolescents, poor sleep hygiene practices are a potentially modifiable risk factor that can be addressed via appropriate interventions. Accordingly, having reliable and valid self-report measures to assess sleep hygiene practices is essential to gauge individual responses to behavioral interventions and evaluate sleep hygiene recommendations. The aim of the present study therefore was to translate and to test the psychometric properties (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factorial and concurrent validity) of the Farsi/Persian version of the revised version of the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale (ASHSr). METHOD: A total of 1013 adolescents (mean age: M = 15.4 years; SD = 1.2; range: 12-19 years; 42.9% females) completed the ASHSr and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in their classroom during an official school lesson. Further, 20% completed the ASHSr 6 weeks later to evaluate the test-retest reliability. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated to examine internal consistency, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test factorial validity, whereas concurrent validity and test-retest reliability were examined via correlation analyses. RESULTS: A first-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) corroborated the six-factor structure of the ASHSr, including a physiological, behavioral arousal, cognitive/emotional, daytime sleep, sleep environment, and sleep stability factor. A second-order CFA showed that a higher-order sleep hygiene construct explained sufficient variance in each factor. Cronbach's alpha values ranged between .71 and .75, correlations for test-retest reliability between .82 and .87. Significant correlations were found between most ASHSr scales and the PSQI indices. However, the magnitude of these correlations was weak. CONCLUSIONS: The Farsi/Persian version of the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale can be used as a reliable and valid tool for evaluation of sleep hygiene practices among Farsi/Persian-speaking adolescents.