ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Preterm birth is the most important in children under 5 yr mortality. In this study, we used the Global Burden of Disease Data (GBD) to evaluate the trend of preterm infant mortality rate for all countries from 1990 to 2017 and to assess the effect of development factors on this trend. METHODS: The preterm infant mortality rate data from 196 countries of the world, from 1990 to 2017, were extracted from the GBD database. To study the trend of preterm infant mortality rate, a mixed-effects log-linear regression model was fitted separately for each IHME super-region. In the next step of data analysis, the development factor was included in the model to determine its effect on this trend for all countries under study. RESULTS: The average rate mortality rate has declined about 2% per year throughout the world over the mentioned period. The highest and lowest decreasing trends were observed in high-income countries (about 4.0%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (about 1.0%), respectively. Including the effect of development factor in the mentioned model revealed that in 1990, the rate of preterm infant mortality in developed countries was 2.2 times of this rate in developing countries and this rate ratio has increased to 2.69 in year 2017. CONCLUSION: Although the preterm infant mortality rate were decreasing in all super regions, there is a remarkable gap in this rate between developing and developed countries yet. Therefore, preventative strategies are needed to reduce preterm birth and its burden, especially in the developing world.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pregnancy causes changes in women's lifestyle; therefore, their health-promoting behaviors should be improved in order to avoid problems during this critical period, which requires knowledge of the factors affecting these behaviors. This study was conducted to determine the predictors of health-promoting lifestyles in pregnant women based on Pender's health promotion model constructs. METHODS: This descriptive study was carried out on 300 pregnant women in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy and sought to determine the correlation between lifestyle and the constructs of Pender's health promotion model. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) and a questionnaire based on Pender's model constructs. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. FINDINGS: A health-promoting lifestyle had a significant positive correlation with the constructs of social support and perceived benefits and a significant negative correlation with the construct of perceived barriers (P<0.05). A health-promoting lifestyle also had a significant relationship with the constructs of perceived barriers, social support and perceived benefits in pregnant women (P<0.05) based on the results of the regression analysis. The regression coefficients showed that all the three variables can significantly explain the variance in health promoting lifestyles in pregnant women (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: According to the results of the present study and based on the constructs of Pender's health promotion model, social support, perceived benefits and perceived barriers were the most important predictors of health-promoting lifestyles in pregnant women. These predictor constructs are recommended to be further considered in designing and implementing training packages and interventions for promoting pregnant women's lifestyle.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Induction of labor is a common obstetric procedure. Acupressure is a natural method that is used for inducing uterine contractions. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the impact of acupressure on the induction of labor. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of acupressure on the initiation of labor. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial, 162 nulliparous pregnant women were admitted to the hospital. They were categorized into 3 groups; acupressure, sham acupressure and control. Acupressure points SP6, BL 60 and BL 32 were pressured bilaterally. The intervention was done by the researcher every other day between 9 am and 11 am. The intervention was carried out on women in the afternoon and the following day. Subjects were examined to determine the initiation of labor symptoms48 and 96h after the start of intervention and at the time of hospitalization. Data were analyzed using the ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-square tests (p<0.05). RESULTS: There was no significant difference among the groups for spontaneous initiation of labor within 48h (P=0.464), and 49-96h after beginning the intervention (P=0.111) and 97h after beginning the intervention to the time of hospitalization for the spontaneous initiation of labor (P=0.897). There were no significant differences in the secondary outcomes between the groups. CONCLUSION: According to the finding of this study, it seems that acupressure treatment was not effective in initiating labor as compared with the sham acupressure and the routine care groups.
