Iranian Community Research Articles

Translation and validation of the Persian version of the Nursing Practice Readiness Scale (NPRS) for new graduate nurses

BackgroundThe clinical readiness of newly graduated nurses is crucial in meeting the growing demand for health services. Consequently, it is essential to develop a scale that accurately evaluates the clinical readiness of these novice nurses.AimThis study aimed to translate and psychometrically evaluate the Persian version of the Nursing Practice Readiness Scale (NPRS) for new graduate nurses.MethodsThis methodological and cross-sectional study was conducted on new graduate nurses from June to November 2023 in Kermanshah City, Iran. The translation of the scale was performed using the forward–backward translation method. Construct validity was assessed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with a sample of 180 participants and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with a sample of 318 participants, both employing the convenience sampling method. The internal consistency of the tool was measured using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Additionally, the tool’s reliability was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The analyses were conducted using SPSS version 27 and LISREL version 8 software.ResultsThe results of EFA and CFA confirmed the tool’s structure, comprising five factors and 35 items. The CFA results showed a well-fitting model (CFI = 0.96, NNFI = 0.96, GFI = 0.893, RMSEA = 0.062, SRMR = 0.049). Pearson’s correlation coefficient indicated a significant relationship between the items, subscales, and the main scale. Additionally, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the tool was 0.932, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.891(0.724–0.957).ConclusionThe Persian version of the Nursing Practice Readiness Scale (NPRS) is a valid and reliable tool, comprising 35 items and five factors. This scale can be effectively used to evaluate the clinical readiness of newly graduated nurses within the Iranian community.

Validity Study of an Emotional Face-Database in Iranian Community

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of facial emotion recognition in the Iranian community, a face database validated in this community is required. To do this, we conducted a validation study on the Radboud face database. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of recognizing emotions through faces in an Iranian sample and then to choose the pictures with high agreement in terms of detecting emotions. Method: This is a cross sectional study recruiting a total number of 142 males and females aged between 20 and 50 years old (Mean ± SD of age 31.7 ± 7.07). The participants were instructed to detect the type of emotion of each face as well as its valence and arousal. The percentage of participants’ agreement on evaluating each picture was assessed. To evaluate the effect of different variables on participants’ accuracy, one way and repeated measure ANOVA analyses were also used. Results: Emotional faces were recognized by around 84% of the participants. The highest accuracy belongs to happy (Mean ± SD of 98 ± 6.1%) and the lowest one to neutral (75 ± 18.06%) faces. The accuracy for detecting other emotions were as follows: sad (91 ± 8.7%), surprised (87 ± 10.64%), angry (77 ± 15.6%), and fearful (76 ± 15.26%). Additionally, we found no differences between male and female participants in terms of recognizing emotions. Then we selected the pictures with high agreement (above 85 percent) in labeling emotions among the participants. Conclusion: The current study provided a valid emotional face database based on Iranian participants’ responses in terms of recognizing basic emotions. The selected pictures can be used in designing tasks to evaluate emotion recognition ability in clinical and nonclinical populations. It can also be used in designing applications to improve detecting emotion in clinical samples such as individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Measuring the adaptive capacity of rangeland users under drought stress in North-easternIran: application of social network analysis

Drought events have significant impact on ecosystems and the livelihoods of rural communities in Iran. So, the purpose of this study was the analysis and evaluation of dimensions of adaptive capacity (AC) against drought in Bajestan county, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. A questionnaire was used to collect data for social network analysis (SNA) and AC by the full network method. Then, a combined SNA-SEM model was developed to determine what was the social response of rangeland users in dealing with drought. In this study, the AC of rangeland users was compared in two groups of villages covered by the collaborative management or Carbon Sequestration Project (CSP) and uncovered by CSP. The results confirmed that the villages under CSP had higher levels of AC and social capital. Among five capitals, indicators of economic resources and information, skills and management were more effective on AC. Among the SNA indexes, effsize, constrain, indirects, density and betweenes centrality are more effective on AC of rangeland users. Results showed that identifying the key actors, who have the power and influence to determine the information flow and financial inflows in these components, can help increase the AC of rangeland users to mitigate effects of drought.

Religious contestation and Islamophobia among Iranian communities residing in the Greater Toronto area and York region.

Religion is an omnipresent concern for the Iranian community residing in the Greater Toronto Area and York Region (GTA and YR). While the experience of Islamophobia appears to be a unidirectional attitude from the host onto the diasporic community, this research indicates the complexities of Canada's Muslim experience. According to this research, the Iranian Diasporas present an ingroup Islamophobia by expressing anger and hostility toward Iranian Muslim community members. In an attempt to set communal boundaries by restructuring one's ethnic identity, the historical and environmental factors simultaneously influence social interaction between the Iranian Muslim community and other Iranian-Canadians. This paper examines the Iranian religious identity and its relationship with Iranian history, Western Islamophobia, and non-Islamiosity to examine the Iranian Muslims' experience in Canada.

Disaster Risk Management and Resilience Assessment of Small Communities in Iran

One of the main challenges facing rural areas in Iran is a lack of disaster risk management. This calls for a comprehensive framework for assessing resilience in small communities. This study seeks to establish such a framework based on the general principles of the Sendai Framework. So, an attempt is made to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to operationalize and score indicators and risk management components, and then choose one of the rural areas in northern Iran as a sample for the framework’s implementation. The results show that a resilience assessment on small communities should do two things: outline the resilience situation and create a platform for dialogue and mutual thinking. Residents should be able to talk about risk reduction continuously and purposefully and take small, purposeful steps in this direction. It seems that Iran’s centralized planning system is more flexible in entrusting affairs to small communities and is more likely to form active cooperative cores. For this reason, it can be seen that voluntary activities have played an essential role in providing social services during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine period, and the volunteers themselves have also benefited from voluntary activities. As a result, volunteer groups have gained opportunities to promote local development and foster ownership and responsibility. However, there are concerns about the sustainability of these activities, which are related to the two issues of ensuring financial stability and providing volunteers in the long term.

Chronic Procrastination Among Iranians: Prevalence Estimation, Latent Profile and Network Analyses.

Procrastination is the deliberate, unjustified postponing of an intended course of action despite its costs or unfavorable effects. The present study used a self-report online survey and collected data from a large convenience sample of the general adult population (N = 2,076; females = 55.73%; Mage = 35.1years [SD ± 12.7]) with diverse demographics. Following the ring-curve distribution, the results indicated a 15.4% prevalence rate of procrastination among the Iranian community, which was significantly higher among women and divorced individuals and lower among nomadic individuals and those with higher academic degrees. A latent profile analysis demonstrated two distinct profiles, one for procrastinators (high scores on chronic procrastination, psychological distress, neuroticism, and extraversion; and low scores on general self-efficacy, self-esteem, satisfaction with life, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and one for non-procrastinators (demonstrating a reverse pattern compared to procrastinators). Moreover, additional network analysis suggested that the examined networks were invariant across procrastination status and gender. The results indicate that procrastination differs by demographic characteristics and is associated with a unique psychological profile. However, none of the aforementioned key study variables were considered a potential vulnerability for procrastinators due to the finding that all variables were peripheral and none were central in the examined networks.Therefore, relying on the differences in mean scores on psychometric scales does not appear to be an optimal way of determining the most important variables in a therapeutic context when treating procrastination.

Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Engaged teachers Scale (ETS)

Background & AimTeacher engagement can be defined as the teachers’ effort and attention to teaching professional tasks, adequate emotions and commitment to relationships with students and colleagues in classroom and school. The Engaged Teacher Scale (ETS) is the frequently used scale, measuring teacher engagement developed by Klassen et al., 2013 in the UK, and consists of four dimensions: cognitive engagement (CE), emotional engagement (EE), social engagement with students (SES), and social engagement with colleagues (SEC). Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Engaged Teachers Scale (ETS).Materials & methodsA total of 123 teachers who worked at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, were included in this study. The study participants were selected using the convenience sampling. The Persian version of a 16-item scale developed by Klassen et al. was validated by this study. Face and Content validity index and reliability were assessed after translation and cultural adaptation, and also construct validity was calculated by confirmatory factor analysis using the PLS22.ResultsOf the 123 study participants, 74 (60.01%) were females and 49 (39.9%) were males. The mean age of the subjects was about 30–40 years. The majority of the study participants were general practitioners (n = 75; 60.9%) and others were from different specialists. Content validity among 15 experts was 0.88. Confirmatory factor analysis for all 16 items loaded across four factors, and this four-factor scale showed a good fit in the Iranian community. Reliability using Cronbach’s alpha was 0.79. The value of root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.0094 with the 99% confidence interval, and also the goodness of fit index GFI value was 0.98.ConclusionThe Persian version of ETS had good validity and reliability in Iran and could be a useful tool for measuring the teacher engagement factors of faculty members that can be used by teachers and educational administrators.

B-cells absence in patients diagnosed as inborn errors of immunity: a registry-based study.

Hypogammaglobulinemia without B-cells is a subgroup of inborn errors of immunity (IEI) which is characterized by a significant decline in all serum immunoglobulin isotypes, coupled with a pronounced reduction or absence of B-cells. Approximately 80 to 90% of individuals exhibit genetic variations in Bruton's agammaglobulinemia tyrosine kinase (BTK), whereas a minority of cases, around 5-10%, are autosomal recessive agammaglobulinemia (ARA). Very few cases are grouped into distinct subcategories. We evaluated phenotypically and genetically 27 patients from 13 distinct families with hypogammaglobinemia and no B-cells. Genetic analysis was performed via whole-exome and Sanger sequencing. The most prevalent genetic cause was mutations in BTK. Three novel mutations in the BTK gene include c.115T > C (p. Tyr39His), c.685-686insTTAC (p.Asn229llefs5), and c.163delT (p.Ser55GlnfsTer2). Our three ARA patients include a novel homozygous stop-gain mutation in the immunoglobulin heavy constant Mu chain (IGHM) gene, a novel frameshift mutation of the B-cell antigen receptor complex-associated protein (CD79A) gene, a novel bi-allelic stop-gain mutation in the transcription factor 3 (TCF3) gene. Three patients with agammaglobulinemia have an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern,which includesa missense variant in PIK3CD, a novel missense variant in PIK3R1 and a homozygous silent mutation in the phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit (RASGRP1) gene. This study broadens the genetic spectrum of hypogammaglobulinemia without B-cells and presented a few novel variants within the Iranian community, which may also have implications in other Middle Eastern populations. Notably, disease control was better in the second affected family member in families with multiple cases.

Iran’s water policy: Environmental injustice and peripheral marginalisation

Water exhibits various politico-economic dynamic. Water scarcity can lead to conflicts, and it lies at the core of Iran’s environmental crises. The literature on Iran’s water crisis indicates the effects of this issue in terms of multidimensional environmental degradation, community disintegration, and state-society and intercommunal conflict. Approximately 28 million of Iran’s 85 million residents reside in water-stressed areas, a situation identified as ‘water bankruptcy’. The water shortage is experienced differently across the country. The plateau’s central regions, home to Iran’s major industries, are where the worst water deficit is occurring. However, regions with abundant water resources have also been impacted. These regions – known as ‘donor basins’ – due to intensive and disproportional inter-basin water transfer and other engineering interventions deployed by the Government to deal with the water shortage of the central regions, suffer from a different form of water crisis. A condition of asymmetrical and conflictual power relations between the state and subaltern communities in Iran’s peripheral regions has been created. This paper argues that this constitutes environmental racism, characterised by multilayered impoverishment and unsustainable development among communities in the donor regions.

Navigating Dating Violence: An Intersectional Analysis of Agency Among Young Iranian Immigrant Women

Women's agency in resisting violence and control within intimate relationships manifests in diverse forms, shaped by various social divisions and the socio-cultural contexts in which gender relations evolve. This research explores first-generation young Iranian immigrant women's responses to violence and control within their dating relationships in Canada. Employing an intersectional analysis, it delves into the multifaceted agency demonstrated by these women when confronting dating violence (DV). By contextualizing their agency within Collins's matrix of oppression, the study unveils how systems of oppression interlock to shape their agency. The findings underscored the substantial agency displayed by young women in asserting their self-determination and self-definition. This was evident in their ability to recognize the aggressor's controlling behaviors within their relationships and their outspoken critique of the deeply entrenched patriarchal and gendered norms prevailing in the dominant discourse within the Iranian community. The results underscore the pressing need for culturally sensitive interventions and education programs that move beyond mere DV awareness.

Minoritized Communities in Iran: The Struggle for Unconditional Equality

Following the tragic murder of Jina Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman, in 2022, subsequent protests in 2022–23 presented a significant intersectional challenge to the Islamic Republic of Iran's (IRI) political order, revealing deep-seated issues of ethnic, economic, gender, and political discrimination. Originating in the Kurdish region, these protests quickly spread across Iran and its diaspora, offering a glimpse of potential intersectional solidarity cutting across ethnic, gender, and religious lines. Notably, Kurds and Baluchis played a leading role in the protests, bearing the highest toll in terms of lives lost and injuries sustained. The Iranian regime responded ruthlessly, employing military violence to supress dissent and systematically dehumanizing these communities in an attempt to undermine their vocal opposition to the exclusionary and hierarchical rule rooted in Persian and Shiite dominance. Throughout history, the Kurds have consistently stood at the vanguard of resistance against the political authority in Tehran, as well as challenging the dominance of Persian and Shiite supremacy. This enduring opposition is instrumental to understanding the widespread, well-articulated, and mobilized resistance to the IRI's abuses of power. This resistance finds its epitome in the Women, Life, Freedom social movement.1

Cost Estimating of Providing Desired Food Basket for the Iranian Society and Its Situation in the Last 3 Years

Background: Food security has always been emphasized as a primary goal of sustainable development policies. Events, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, climate change, wars, and unjust (cruel) sanctions against countries threaten global food security. Therefore, considering the importance of nutrition and food consumption in budget planning and household shopping, we indirectly examined the cost of providing an optimal food basket for the Iranian community, in total and by separating its components based on the average price of selected food items in urban areas from year 1399-1401 in the Solar Hijri calendar (2020 to 2022). Methods: In this cross-sectional costing study, the country’s desired food basket was used as a reference for cost measurement of an acceptable food basket, and information on food prices and household expenses was obtained from the Statistical Center of Iran and the Central Bank. The cost of providing an optimal food basket for the Iranian community, in total and for each component, was calculated for an individual and a family of four. After extracting the cost information of providing an optimal food basket in these three years, the data were compared and analyzed to study the trend. Results: Based on the costs of providing an optimal household basket, the average food cost for a family of four in 1399 (2020- 2021) was about 3.2 million Tomans, which increased by 27% to 4.365 million Tomans in 1400 (2021-2022), and in 1401 (October 2022), it reached 6.785 million Tomans, a 35% increase compared to 1400 (2021-2022). Conclusion: It is suggested to support vulnerable groups and target subsidies according to different income levels. The salaries and wages should be revised in line with inflation food prices and household expenses, and also policymakers and planners are suggested to monitor the prices.

Community capacity building and indigenous tourism in Iran

ABSTRACT Enhancing community capacity is crucial for sustaining tourism benefits in marginalized areas, yet remains underexplored. This study focuses on community capacity building in a nomadic community in Iran, utilizing qualitative methods. Twenty participants, including locals and tourism stakeholders, were interviewed. Thematic analysis revealed key factors like governance, social capital, and community cohesion impacting capacity building. Challenges such as distance from power centers and cultural biases hindered progress. The research highlights the significance of factors like local leadership and access to resources in bolstering community capacity for sustainable tourism development. Addressing obstacles like religious biases and nomadic lifestyles is crucial for effective capacity building in marginalized communities. The study offers significant practical and theoretical implications for tourism industry stakeholders.

Signs and symptoms of covid − 19 in patients with a history of coronary artery bypass grafting surgery

BackgroundPeople who have coronary artery disease are more likely to develop signs and symptoms of COVID-19 due to their special circumstances. Coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG)does not cure the disease but reduces the signs and symptoms, therefore, there is a possibility of severe complications of Covid-19 after it.Materials and methodsThis study is a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted from June to July 2020 on 200 patients who underwent CABG from February 2018 to February 2020. The instrument consisted of socio-demographic variables and COVID’s signs and symptoms checklist. Data were collected by census method by telephone. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact test, Mann Whitney U test, and logistic regression model.ResultsThe results showed that the majority of the samples were male (67%). The mean age of them was 62.02 ± 9.06 years and 10% of the m had signs and symptoms of Covid 19. Having the symptoms of COVID-19 is significant in terms of the variables of decreased sense of smell (p < 0.002), decreased sense of taste (p < 0.002), and home quarantine (p < 0.01). The logistic regression model showed decreased sense of taste (OR = 6.071, CI95%: 1.621–29.984, p < 0.009) and non-compliance with home quarantine (OR = 0.061, CI95%: 0.005–0.741, p < 0.028) were the related variables to signs and symptoms of Covid 19.ConclusionThe results did not indicate the frequency of COVID signs and symptoms among people with a history of Coronary artery bypass grafting surgery more than healthy people in the Iranian community. Extensive studies are suggested in this regard.

Audit and quality assessment of national persian registry of cardiovascular disease(N-PROVE) in terms of comorbidities, angiography, and angioplasty characteristics in Iran.

The National Persian Registry of Cardiovascular Disease (N-PROVE) has been established to provide a comprehensive database of cardiovascular diseases in the Iranian community for further investigations and to develop national guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). As with most clinical registries, a quality control audit is necessary to ensure a comprehensive and accurate registry; the current study aims to assess the validity and quality of the N-PROVE/Angiography/Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) registry. The current cross-sectional quality assessment study serves as an example of data quality assessment in N-PROVE on a sample of patients registered in the N-PROVE/Angiography/PCI registry since 2020. Accordingly, data of 194 patients, including comorbidities, angiography, and angioplasty characteristics, were collected from the N-PROVE/Angiography/PCI registry as the main database and reevaluated by a panel consisting of a cardiologist and two coronary intervention fellowships as a test database. The quality control of the population-based healthcare database, the N-PROVE/PCI, revealed that the average error rate in terms of comorbidities, angiography characteristics, angioplasty characteristics, and in total were 3.8%, 2.3%, 3%, and 3.03%, respectively. According to the findings of this study, the N-PROVE/PCI registry had an average error of less than 4% in the assessed dimensions, including comorbidities, angiography, and angioplasty characteristics. Therefore, this registry appears valid and may be used for contemporary epidemiological studies.

Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the students' conceptions of assessment: SCoA inventory in medical university in Iran.

Student assessment is one of the main parts of educational planning, and improves the quality of education. Students understanding and feeling about assessment might affect significantly on learning and academic achievement. Considering the importance of this issue, and the lack of a valid and reliable Persian tool in medical universities for measuring this concept to measure students' perceptions and understandings of assessment, the current study aim was to determine the psychometric properties of (Students' Conceptions of Assessment - SCoA) inventory during the basic sciences students in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. This is a cross-sectional study design. In order to carry out this study, SCoA inventory was translated and culturally adopted. To measure validity, reliability, and normalize the inventory, it was distributed among the study population composed of 302 students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences during the academic year 1400-1401 who met the inclusion criteria. The collected data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach's alpha using SPSS version 23 and Amos software. The results of data analysis showed that of the 302 participants, 119 were men and 183 were women. The mean age of students was 21.69 ± 2.16 years. Content validity was calculated, and it was reported 0.88. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the internal consistency, and its value was 0.775. The construct validity of SCoA inventory was assessed using CFA by EQS version 6.1. The value of root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.092 with a 98% confidence interval, and the Goodness of fit index (GFI) value was 0.99. CFA for all items loaded across four factors, and this four-factor inventory showed a good fit in the Iranian community. For the first time, the psychometric test of SCoA inventory has been carried out at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. The Persian version of this inventory has good validity and reliability in Iran and is a useful tool for measuring the SCoA in medical university. Researchers and those interested in medical education and development centers can benefit from the results of this study. Also, this inventory has been applicable to determine the attitude and perceptions of students about assessment.

Evaluation of the psychometric indicators of the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory in Iranian adults

BackgroundThe DSM-5's Comprehensive Autism Traits Inventory (CATI) was a useful diagnostic tool for the general population because it covered all the critical aspects of autism. However, its reliability and validity in the overall Iranian population still need to be investigated. PurposeWe reviewed the inventory and estimated the validity and reliability of the Iranian version of CATI among 1800 adults. MethodsThe Persian version of CATI (CATI-I) was administered to 1800 Iranian adults using the online Star Questionnaire system. Internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, test-retest reliability, and measurement invariance across genders were calculated. ResultsThe Correlated social & non-social bifactor model showed the best fit in the Iranian community (CFI=.966; TLI=.947; RMSEA=.045; SRMR=.028). Ultimately, the CATI-I scale in the Iranian community consisted of 39 items across six factors and two higher-order constructs. Additionally, the CATI-I scale's convergent validity and reliability values were acceptable. ConclusionThe CATI-I demonstrates satisfactory reliability and validity in measuring autism traits. It is an appropriate model for the second-order social and non-social factors, and it also shows measurement invariance across genders.

Factors influencing the application of forest conservation behavior among rural communities in Iran

Today, the importance of natural forests is obvious to everyone, but every year a large part of these resources is lost due to various reasons such as human and natural factors, among which the contribution of human factors is more than others. Therefore, most of the forest destructions is caused by the irresponsible behavior of humans, who did not adopt reasonable methods in encountering these treasures and utilizing them, and instead of planning for sustainable use, they have greedily exploited and profited from them. As a result, one of the challenges of most countries is how to solve this problem and prevent further damages to forests. In this regard, this research was conducted with the main goal of factors affecting the use of forest conservation behavior (FCB) among rural communities in Iran. For achieving that, three general goals were followed: (1) conducting a coherent research to identify the most important factors affecting FCB (2) identifying the most important FCB among locals and (3) providing practical policies in the field of forest conservation for policy makers and decision makers in order to the sustainable management of these natural ecosystems. At first, using research literature, 18 influencing factors on FCB were identified, which were placed in economic, social, psychological and human classes. The results of prioritizing FCBs among people indicated that the behaviors of preventing the entry of an excessive number of livestock into the forest and not lighting a fire near or in the forest are used more than other behaviors. In addition the results showed that social capital with an explanatory value of 65.5% has the greatest effect on FCB. In addition, the findings indicated that among the economic, social capital, psychological and human factors, the variables of the dependence level on the forest, social norm, intention and environmental knowledge and awareness were the most important influencing variables, respectively. Also, the findings indicated that among the economic, social capital, psychological and human factors, the variables of the dependence level on the forest, social norm, intention and environmental knowledge and awareness were the most important influencing variables, respectively.

Community flood resilience assessment of Saadi neighborhood, Shiraz, Iran

Flash floods have recently become a recurrent phenomenon with devastating impacts on different cities, particularly vulnerable communities in Iran. Community resilience is a relatively recent approach to resilience, increasingly used in the natural hazards and climate change literature. This study aims to assess the community resilience of a flood-prone district, the Saadi neighborhood, in Shiraz, Iran. Based on an extensive literature review, an indicator-based framework was outlined to measure community resilience to flash floods using five dimensions: social, community capital, economic, institutional, and infrastructural and housing resilience. The primary data on community flood resilience assessment was collected through a survey using questionnaires. Using simple random sampling, 374 individuals from the residents of the study area were selected. The data were ranked and analyzed through qualification methods, descriptive statistics and expert panel weighting system. The overall composite community resilience and the community resilience indices’ scores were .56 out of 1 for the selected community, indicating a moderate level of resilience. The findings showed that institutional and infrastructure/housing conditions had a limited impact on community resilience. However, social trust and community capital were crucial for aiding the community’s rapid recovery from a flood disaster and preparing for future floods. Policymakers and resilience planners, thus, should focus on the lessons that can be learnt from the past floods, particularly in terms of infrastructure and institutional resilience, as these have a significant impact on the overall resilience of local communities.

Prevalence of age-related macular degeneration in Iran and its projections through 2050: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundAge-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is one of the most common causes of vision loss. A substantial increase in the burden of AMD is expected in the aging populations, including the Iranians. We investigated the age and gender-specific prevalence of AMD and its determinants in Iran.MethodsWe systematically searched international (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, etc.) and local (IranDoc, Magiran, etc.) online databases. We included cross-sectional or cohort studies, either clinic- or population-based, published on the prevalence of AMD among Iranians, with no limitation on age. Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) tools for critical appraisal were used. Prevalence estimates are pooled by applying random-effects modeling. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were performed.ResultsSeventeen studies with 16,120 participants were included. Based on studies in general population, the pooled prevalence of AMD was 10.8% (95% CI: 6.5-16.2%) in males, and 9.8% (95% CI: 4.7-16.4%) in females. 8.5% of moderate vision impaired, 13.6% of severe vision impaired, and 15.7% of blind participants were affected by AMD. The prevalence of AMD was 2% in 40–49, and 32.3% in the ≥ 80 population. The prevalence of AMD was 11.9% among the visually impaired vs. 8.7% in the general population. The study’s sampling method, location, and mean age were correlated with the heterogeneities of the prevalence. We observed an increasing trend in the number of AMD cases (average annual percent change = 3.66%; 95% CI: 3.65–3.67%) from 1990 to 2050. The expected number of AMD cases in Iran will be near 5.5 million by 2050.ConclusionThe prevalence of AMD in Iran was somewhere between the prevalence of Asians and Europeans. Given the aging trend of the Iranian community and an average annual percent change of 3.66%, it is indispensable to adopt preventive and screening policies to diminish the burden of the disease in the future decades.