Patterns and Predictors of Multimorbidity in the Azar Cohort.

BACKGROUND: The co-existence of chronic diseases (CDs), a condition defined as multimorbidity (MM), is becoming a major public health issue. Therefore, we aimed to determine the patterns and predictors of MM in the Azar Cohort. METHODS: We evaluated the prevalence of MM in 15,006 (35-70-year old) subjects of the Azar Cohort Study. MM was defined as the co-existence of two or more CDs. Data on the subjects' socioeconomic status, demographics, sleeping habits, and physical activity were collected using questionnaires. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of MM was 28.1%. The most prevalent CDs, in decreasing order, were obesity, hypertension, depression, and diabetes. Obesity, depression, and diabetes were the most co-occurring CDs. The MM risk increased significantly with age, illiteracy, and in females. Also, the subjects within the lowest tertile of physical activity level (OR=1.89; 95% CI: 1.75-2.05) showed higher MM risk than those with the highest level of physical activity. Findings regarding current smoking status indicated that being an ex-smoker or smoker of other types of tobacco significantly increased the risk of MM. CONCLUSION: The reduction of MM is possible by promoting public health from an early age among people of various socioeconomic conditions. It is vital to offer the necessary health support to the aging population of Iran.

Prevalence and Predicting Risk Factors of Polypharmacy in Azar Cohort Population.

Background: As polypharmacy has some medically negative impacts, it has become a challenging issue for public health and affected people. Therefore, we decided to investigate the prevalence of polypharmacy and its predicting risk factors in the Azar cohort population. Methods: In this cross-sectional population-based cohort study, the prevalence of polypharmacy was evaluated in 15,001 subjects who participated in the Azar cohort study. We measured demographic characteristics (age, gender, socioeconomic status, smoking status, marital status, and education level), physical activity level, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, multimorbidity (coexistence of two or more chronic diseases (CDs)), and polypharmacy status (a daily intake of five or more medicines for a minimum of 90 days). Results: Based on our results, 9.51% of the population had polypharmacy. The five most prescribed medications were drugs acting on the cardiovascular system (19.9%), central nervous system (16.7%), endocrine system (13.3%), NSAIDs (11.5%), and drugs used for musculoskeletal and joint diseases (11.4%). Being female, illiterate, and having the lowest tertile of physical activity level significantly increased the risk of polypharmacy. The risk of polypharmacy was 49.36 times higher in patients with four or more CDs than in those without. Conclusions: Our study emphasized the importance of routine monitoring to evaluate polypharmacy among those aged 35 to 59 and the elderly. Physicians should carefully assess drug suitability, especially in multimorbid and obese patients, to prevent excessive polypharmacy and its potentially negative impacts.

Quality of the Systematic Reviews in Cochrane Gynecological Cancer Group and Their Understudied RCTs.

Purpose: Gynecological cancers are common neoplasms in clinical settings with a high impact on the economy of communities. The medical literature is an essential resource to guide clinical decision-making, and misconduct in researches undermines the credibility and integrity of research in general. We aimed to evaluate the quality of Cochrane gynecological cancers reviews and their understudies RCTS among the different biases dimensions. Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was performed on 118 systematic reviews published by the Cochrane gynecological cancers Group up to June 2021. The risk of bias was assessed in each Cochrane survey using the Joanna Bridges Institute (JBI) critical assessment tool consisting of 11 questions. The JBI checklist for systematic reviews and research syntheses is available at https://jbi.global/critical-appraisal-tools. After a systematic critical evaluation of the reviews and meta-analysis, we extracted a different bias from all of their understudied RCTs examined in these systematic reviews, which were evaluated by systematic review authors using a standard bias risk tool developed by the Cochrane Group. Results: Cochrane gynecological cancers reviews had high quality based on appraise results using the JBI appraisal checklist. In addition, all of the included studies used PRISMA standards for reporting their results. However, in their understudied RCTs, the most prevalent risk of bias was unclear selection bias (allocation concealment) and performance bias (blinding of participants and personnel). Also, the highest risk of bias was blinding participants and personnel (performance bias) and incomplete outcome data (attrition bias). Our results showed that the lowest risk of bias was incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) and random sequence generation (selection bias). Conclusion: Although most Cochrane gynecological cancers reviews had high quality, unclear performance bias was the highest in their understudied RCTs, indicating structural deficiencies. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13224-022-01655-6.