Introduction: This study aimed to determine the effect of warm footbath before bedtime on the quality of sleep on patients with acute Coronary Syndrome in Cardiac Care Unit. Methods: This study was conducted on 120 patients admitted to CCU at Mazandaran Heart Center and randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. In the intervention group, warm footbath was performed after the second night in hospital before bed time by 41 C water for 20 minutes for three consecutive nights; in contrast, the control group did not receive anything of this sort. The next day, St Mary's Hospital Sleep Questionnaire was completed to evaluate sleep quality. Then, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software and Friedman, Wilcoxon exact statistical tests. Results: The quality of sleep in the first night of hospitalization was different from the third night after the intervention in both groups and the improvement process of sleep quality was observed in both groups. Most patients had moderate impairments (23-36), which had not changed during the intervention. In intervention groups, 8 patients had severe sleep disorders (greater than 37), which declined to 1 after three nights of intervention. While, in the control group this number fell from 10 patients with severe sleep disorders to 5. Warm footbath had a great positive impact on patients suffering from severe sleep disorders (P<0.05). Conclusion: Although warm footbath did not improve the quality of sleep in all patients, it reduced the number of patients who had severe sleep disturbances.

Background: Mazandaran Province is one of the provinces with a high suicide rate. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the epidemiology of relief missions following suicide in the pre-hospital emergency system of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted from September 2019 to 2021 in the pre-hospital emergency department of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Statistical information related to the missions carried out after suicide was extracted using the data contained in the emergency national mission form recorded in Asayar software. According to the questionnaire, demographic information including age, gender, accident location, time, method of suicide, as well as mission outcome were extracted. To examine the results, frequency percentage, Mean±SD were used, and to examine the qualitative variables, the Chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test were used. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 26 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). A significance level of 0.05 was considered. Results: In this study, 712(53.7%) were men and 615(46.3%) were women. The mean age of patients was 32.12±2.03 years. Fisher›s exact test revealed a statistically significant relationship between age groups and suicide methods (P=0.02). The Chi-square test was used to investigate the relationship between the suicide method and gender. According to the results of this test, a statistically significant relationship was observed between gender and suicide methods (P=0.00). The most common methods of suicide among clients were drug poisoning (32.1%), other cases (30.06%), and self-harm (20.6%), respectively. The highest frequency of suicide attempts occurred between evening and night among 497 people (37.5%) in terms of accident time. Conclusion: Young and productive age groups are among the most vulnerable groups among suicides. Men died about five times more than women after committing suicide in a pre-hospital emergency room. According to the results, more planning is required regarding mental health self-care education in families and schools, implementation of psychological counseling, diagnosis, and prompt treatment in vulnerable groups.

Objectives: The elderly are at higher risks for developing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Besides, when generating the illness, they have a higher risk of death. Recognizing clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with morbidity and mortality in the elderly is necessary to prevent mortality in similar infectious diseases. Methods & Materials: This descriptive research explored the data of all geriatrics admitted following COVID-19 in the medical centers affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. These data were collected from February 20, 2020, to February 20, 2021. Data analysis was performed by SPSS using logistic regression analysis. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Of the total 54523 patients admitted to the medical centers in the 12 months, 25218 patients were elderlies. In total, 51.05% and 12343 of the patients were female and male, respectively. In total, 3512 elderlies were expired. The death cases included 1814 (51.65%) males and the rest were females. Moreover, 16203 patients were in the age group of youngest-old, aged 60-75 years; 8270 patients were middle-old, 76-90 years; and the oldest-old category included 745 patients in the age group of ≥90 years. There was a significant relationship between age, gender, and COVID-19-induced death in the elderly (P<0.05). Older adults presented the highest death rate due to this disease Men were 10% more prone to die from COVID-19 than women. Major comorbidities recorded in this population were kidney diseases (92%), cancer (76%), diabetes (32%), and cardiovascular diseases (17%). Conclusion: Preventive measures to support the elderly are essential to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it is essential to focus on the specific health needs of the elderly, such as proper nutrition, wellbeing, and mental health promotion.

BACKGROUND: The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Iran on February 19, 2020, in Qom. Since Mazandaran is one of the high-risk provinces with many patients and deaths, this study was conducted to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19-related deaths in Mazandaran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this descriptive study, demographic information and clinical findings in patients who died following COVID-19 in the medical centers of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences from February 8, 2020, to October 10, 2020, were extracted. Data were analyzed by using SPSS 21. Logistic regression was used to compare the data. P < 0.05 was considered as the significance level. RESULTS: Out of a total of 34,039 patients admitted during the 8 months, 2907 patients died. Of these, 1529 (52%) were male, and the rest were female. In terms of age, 10 cases in the age group of fewer than 15 years, 229 cases in the age group of 15–44 years, 864 patients in the age group of 45–64 years, and 1793 people in the age group of 65 years and over died. 2206 people (more than 75%) by personal visit referred to medical centers. The mortality rate was more than 8 cases per 100 hospitalized patients. Men were 16% more likely to die from COVID-19 than women. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Older adults over 65 have the highest incidence and death rate due to this disease. The incidence rate was higher in women, and the death rate was higher in men, which differs from the national pattern.