Bibliometric overview of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) publications from 2000 to 2022.

Aim: The present study was conducted to analyze the publications of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) and assess its scientific productions during the last 23 years. Methods: The required data were retrieved from the Scopus database. The advanced search was chosen, and the search query included terms related to the TLGS. Search and retrieval of data were conducted on August 30, 2022. Bibliometric indicators have been used at three levels in this research including the level of documents, journals, and authors. Also, the knowledge structure of this set was analyzed at the level of social structure and the level of conceptual structure. Data analysis and visualizations was performed using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer software. Results: A total of 870 documents related to the TLGS have been indexed in the Scopus from 2000 to 2022, and 1148 authors have participated in the relevant studies. 66.4% of the TLGS documents were published in journals with Q1 subject area quartiles. There was an annual growth rate of 20% and average citations per document of 16.5. There was a co-authorship per document of 5.6 and an international co-authorship of 8.7%. According to the co-occurrence network for keywords, the most common areas in the TLGS published documents were nutrition, epidemiologic issues, cardiometabolic-related biomarkers, diabetes, hypertension, lifestyle variables and genetic studies. Conclusion: Over the past 23 years, the TLGS has successfully addressed a wide range of inquiries pertaining to cardiometabolic and nutritional issues in Iran. The remarkable achievements of the TLGS act as a catalyst, advocating for the planning and implementation of additional cohort studies that specifically focus on non-communicable diseases within the Iranian population.

Osteoporosis medication adherence tools: a systematic review.

Poor adherence reduces the effectiveness of osteoporosis treatment, resulting in lower bone mineral density and subsequently higher fracture rates. Reliable and practical tools are needed to measure medication adherence. The aim of this systematic review was to find osteoporosis medication adherence measurement tools and assess their applicability. Osteoporosis adherence measurement tools and all their related keywords in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched on 4 December, 2022. After excluding duplicates in the Endnote software, two researchers independently investigated the remaining articles and included all those that used a method for measuring adherence to osteoporosis pharmacotherapy. Articles that did not specify the medications evaluated or if the primary focus was not adherence excluded. Two common measures of adherence, i.e., compliance and persistence were included. Four separate tables were designed, one for direct methods, one for formulas, one for questionnaires, and one for electronic methods of measuring adherence to treatment. Quality assessment was performed for selected articles by the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS). A total of 3821 articles were found, of which 178 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In general, five types of methods were observed to measure medication adherence of osteoporosis, including direct methods (n = 4), pharmacy records (n = 17), questionnaires (n = 13), electronic methods (n = 1), and tablet counting (n = 1). The most commonly used adherence measurement tool, based on pharmacy records, was medication possession ratio (MPR). Among questionnaires, Morisky Medication Adherence Scale was mostly used. Our findings show what tools have been used to measure medication adherence in osteoporosis patients. Among these tools, direct methods and electronic methods are the most accurate methods. However, due to their high cost, they are practically not used in measuring osteoporosis medication adherence. Questionnaires are the most popular among them and are mostly used in osteoporosis.

The association of opioid consumption and osteoporosis in old men: Bushehr Elderly Health (BEH) program.

In a population of 1156 men aged ≥ 60 years, opioid drug use was reported by 4.1% (n = 47) of participants. Among opioids, opium was the most prevalent consuming drug (83%). Adjusting for potential confounders, opioid consumption showed a positive association with osteoporosis. PURPOSE: Limited evidence suggest a relationship between opioid consumption and osteoporosis. This study aims to investigate the possible association of osteoporosis and drug use among older adult men of Bushehr, Iran. METHODS: In this study, 1156 men aged ≥ 60 years of Bushehr Elderly Health (BEH) were included. Bone density and trabecular bone score (TBS) were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Total osteoporosis was noted based on osteoporosis at either site of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip densitometry. Drug use was defined as a self-reported current use of opioid drugs, either regular (daily) use or irregular consumption. Multivariable modified Poisson regression analysis was used for investigating the association of opioids and osteoporosis, reporting the adjusted prevalence ratio (APR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). The association between drug use and TBS was evaluated using a linear regression model. RESULTS: Opioid drug use was reported by 4.1% (n = 47) of participants. Among drug users, opium was the most prevalent consuming drug (83%). In all, 38.3% of drug users and 22.4% of non-users had osteoporosis (p-value = 0.011). Multivariable analysis showed that adjusting by age, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, diabetes, and physical activity, a positive and significant association was detected between opioid drug use and the likelihood of osteoporosis (APR: 1.46, 95%CI: 1.02-2.10). Considering the potential confounders, the results also showed a negative association between drug consumption and TBS (ß: - 0.027, 95%CI: - 0.053, - 0.001). CONCLUSION: Opioid drug use has a positive association with osteoporosis in elderly men, independent of other conventional risk factors. Elderly drug users might be at a higher risk for osteoporotic fractures, given the effect of substance use on cognition. So, osteoporosis among drug users would be of importance, especially in countries where opium consumption is prevalent.

Contribution of Iranian researchers in Alzheimer's disease research: A 10 years scientometric analysis.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and is a rising issue for global health. Iran is struggling with a growing number of the elderly population and also a decrease in fertility rate. The goal of this study was to review and evaluate Alzheimer's disease publications by Iranian researchers. METHODS: We searched for Alzheimer and all its related keywords in the Web of Science to find related documents published by Iranian researchers from 2010 until 2019. Bibliometric parameters at the level of documents, authors, and organizations were assessed. The co-authorship matrix was computed using Bibexcel, and visualizations were performed by VOSviewer. RESULTS: Totally, 1042 documents from 4949 researchers (8.6 authors per document) were retrieved from Web of Science. Original articles (77.06%) and reviews (16.21%) were the most common document types for Iranian publications and also one article was retracted. As results, the average citation per document was 20.68. Iranian researchers mainly collaborated with researchers from the United States, Italy, Australia, and Canada, respectively. The co-occurrence networks for keywords represented five publication clusters in the collection. The largest cluster was related to studies on oxidative stress in Alzheimer's Disease, followed by in-vivo studies in the field of brain neurons destruction. CONCLUSION: We found that Iranian researchers made significant impacts in the field of Alzheimer's disease and covered a wide range of related areas over the last 10 years.

Contribution of Iran in COVID-19 studies: a bibliometrics analysis.

Background: Iran is fighting heroically against COVID-19. Due to the importance of scientific publications in better dealing with this stubborn virus, this study was conducted aiming at reviewing COVID-19 publications by Iranian scientists. Methods: We searched for COVID-19 and all its related keywords in the Web of Science (WOS), Scopus and PubMed databases to find documents published by Iranian authors until July 10, 2020. Duplicates documents were excluded, and bibliographic parameters were evaluated. Co-authorship matrix was calculated using Bibexcel, and visualizations were done using VOSviewer. Results: A total of 849 documents from 3450 Iranian researchers (5.5 authors per document) were retrieved from WOS, PubMed, and Scopus and Iran ranked 12th and 13th in WOS and Scopus in terms of the number of publications. The average citation per document was 2.2 with the h-index of 18. Original articles and letters were the most common formats for Iranian publications. The Journal of Military Medicine has published the highest number of documents. Iranian authors have mostly collaborated with researchers from the United States, Italy, the UK, and Canada, respectively. The co-occurrence network for keywords represented five publication clusters in the collection, and the largest clusters were related to epidemiological studies and public health, followed by clinical studies on COVID-19. Conclusion: Iranian researchers have had a significant scientific contribution in various areas of the disease. However, the network of studies has not been sufficiently cohesive, and more coherent collaboration between researchers at the national and international levels should be on the agenda of research policymakers in the country.