Background: The knowledge and abilities of nurses and physicians in perceiving and dealing with abuse are necessary for the improvement of older people's health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of attachment styles and communication skills in predicting nursing and medical students' perception of elder abuse in Yazd, Iran. Methods: The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional design that was conducted in the form of multistage sampling on 397 nursing and medical students at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd, Iran. The Elderly Caregiving Questionnaire (ECQ), Adults' Attachment Styles Inventory (AAI), and the revised version of the Communication Skills Questionnaire were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 22 software. Results: The findings revealed that the participants had an appropriate understanding of elder abuse. The highest level of perception of elder abuse was in the dimension of psychological abuse (24.5± 5.22) and the lowest level was related to the dimension of physical abuse (21.7± 4.74). Additionally, a positive significant relationship was found between the score of students' perception of abuse, and secure and avoidant attachment styles as well as students' communication skills (p<0.01). According to regression analysis, these predictors explained 8.6% of the observed variance in the students' perception of elder abuse. Conclusion: These findings indicate that attachment styles influenced the individual's perception of elder abuse. Therefore, in future planning and research, this should be given more attention.

: In 1994, the mandatory iodized salt consumption became a law in Iran, and since then, almost all people have routinely and effectively received iodine. This study aimed to compare the iodine sufficiency among Iranian students in 1996 and 2017. We used Iran’s health ministry national data on urinary iodine among 8- to 10-year-old students. A total 13,389 and 2,917 urine samples were examined for monitoring in 2017 and 1996, respectively. The median urinary iodine (MUI) excretion of samples was 18.26 µg/dL in 2017 and 20.5 µg/dL in 1996. Based on the urinary iodine index (< 10 μg/dL), 14.53% and 19.61% of students had iodine deficiency (ID) in 1996 and 2017, respectively, which mild, moderate, and severe insufficiency was 8.83%, 2.3%, and 3.43% in 1996 and 14.86%, 3.72% and 1.01% in 2017. So, the main achievement of this national program was the reduction in severe ID rate during these years (3.43% vs. 1.01%).