Background The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is postulated to have the highest increase in the prevalence of diabetes by 2030; however, studies on the epidemiology of diabetes are rather limited across the region, including in Iran. Methods This study was conducted between 2016 and 2018 among Iranian adults aged 20 to 65 years residing in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran. Diabetes was defined as the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level of 126 mg/dl or higher, and/or taking antidiabetic medications, and/or self-declared diabetes. Prediabetes was defined as FBG 100 to 125 mg/dl. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine the association of multiple risk factors that attained significance on the outcome. Results Overall, 30,498 participants were recruited; the mean (±SD) age was 41.6 (±11.9) years. The prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes were 30.8 and 15.3%, respectively. We found a similar prevalence of diabetes in both sexes, although it was higher among illiterates, urban residents, married people, and smokers. Participants aged 50–65 and those with Body Mass Index (BMI) 30 kg/m2 or higher were more likely to be affected by diabetes [RR: 20.5 (18.1,23.3) and 3.2 (3.0,3.6)]. Hypertension [RR: 5.1 (4.7,5.5)], waist circumference (WC) equal or more than 90 cm [RR: 3.6 (3.3,3.9)], and family history [RR: 2.3 (2.2,2.5)] were also significantly associated with diabetes. For prediabetes, the main risk factors were age 50 to 65 years [RR: 2.6 (2.4,2.8)], BMI 30 kg/m2 or higher [RR: 1.9 (1.8,2.0)], hypertension and WC of 90 cm or higher [RR: 1.7 (1.6,1.8)]. The adjusted relative risks for all variables were higher in females than males, with the exception of family history for both conditions and waist circumference for prediabetes. Conclusions Prediabetes and diabetes are prevalent in southwestern Iran. The major determinants are older age, obesity, and the presence of hypertension. Further interventions are required to escalate diabetes prevention and diagnosis in high-risk areas across Iran.

Objectives and background People with diabetes (PWD) are one of the high-risk groups for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, increasing the disease mortality. This study was aimed to compare the epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in diabetic versus non-diabetic individuals. Methods In this retrospective observational study, the epidemiological characteristics of the two groups of diabetic ( n =1365) and non-diabetic ( n =15,026) subjects with definite diagnosis of COVID-19 in the southwestern region of Iran were compared. All clinical signs and comorbidities of the patients were evaluated. Chi-square test was used to examine the differences in qualitative variables between diabetic and non-diabetic groups. Results Of 16,391 enrolled subjects, 8.3% had diabetes, and 28.3% of COVID-19-related deaths occurred in diabetics. Also, the mortality rate among diabetics was reported as 14.3%. The average age of diabetic patients and non-diabetic patients was 59 and 37 years, respectively. The odds of fever, cough, shortness of breath, headache, and underlying diseases, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, immune deficiency, and hyperlipidemia, were significantly higher in diabetic patients than in non-diabetics. Conclusion Diabetes is associated with increased mortality rate in patients with COVID-19 and is considered as a major risk factor for COVID-19 infection, posing a major public health challenge for health policymakers in managing and controlling the disease. Therefore, development of prevention and treatment strategies aimed at reducing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in diabetes patients is of significant importance.

Background: COVID-19 spread rapidly throughout the world and affected many people. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in southwest of Iran from February 19 to June 20, 2020. Methods: In this retrospective study, the epidemiological characteristics of 7313 patients with COVID-19 in southwest of Iran were analyzed and reported from February 19, 2020, to the end of Jun,2020. Data were extracted from electronic records in hospitals. Sex ratio and mortality rate of the disease were calculated. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors affecting mortality. Results: From all patients studied, 3920 (53.5%) were men and 2066 (28.24%) were in the age 30 to 40 years age group. The case fatality rate of the disease based on the total number of patients (hospitalized and nonhospitalized) was 4.84%. The highest mortality rate was seen in patients with various cancers and in those aged over 80 years. The most common symptoms in patients were fever and cough, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. Logistic regression results also showed that the chances of death in the 70-60 and 80-70 years age group were 5.94 (OR, 5.94; 95% CI, 2.14-16.43) and 8.63 (OR, 8.63, 95% CI, 3.09-24.14) compared to 10-20 years age group. Conclusion: These results indicate the need to increase primary care, provide the necessary equipment to treat patients, and more importantly, early identification of patients and treatment for them.

The present work contains data obtained during the analysis of pregnant women referred to Abadan Health Centers Organization (Abadan HCO) with confirmed acute hypothyroidism diagnosis. From among all pregnant women referred to Abadan HCO, 600 were chosen consisting of 120 pregnant women from each of the health centers in quintuple areas. In this paper, the effects of family history, occupation, death, abortion, type of diabetes, smoking, lithium consumption, allergy, radiotherapy, ovarian cysts (OC) and oral contraceptive pills (OCP) consumption have been studied (Yassaee et al., 2014) [1]. After completion of the questionnaires by the patients, the obtained coded data were fed into ECSELL software. Statistical analysis of the data was carried out using Special Package for Social Sciences version 16 (SPSS 16).

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