Establishing research impact assessment in Iran: The first report from a non-high-income country.

Background: This study presents the first report on research impact assessment (RIA) in non-high-income countries, undertaken as a pilot initiative in 2021. Within it, we aimed to explore the feasibility of employing the 'payback' model for evaluating the impact of health research and enhancing the accountability of universities. We focussed on three key impact domains: 'production of decision support documents and knowledge-based products,' 'implementation of research results,' and 'health and economic impact.

Construction and validation of CAPSES scale as a composite indicator of SES for health research: an application to modeling social determinants of cardiovascular diseases.

Background: The main objective of this study was to construct and validate a composite socioeconomic status indicator containing material capital, human capital, and social capital (CAPSES scale) and also appropriate it for CVDs in a large population-based study.

Methods: This cross-sectional study, the Urban HEART-2 project, was conducted in Tehran, Iran, in 2011. A total of 34,116 households covering 118,542 individuals were assessed in this study.

A Novel Approach for Development of Intraocular Biodegradable Ranibizumab Implant: A Solution for Stability of Protein Activity.

Ranibizumab is a monoclonal antibody fragment, targeting all isoforms of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), a protein involved in angiogenesis. It is used to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and diabetic macular edema (DME), which are associated with blindness worldwide. However, proper treatment can decrease the loss of vision in about 90% of patients.

An intuitive framework for Bayesian posterior simulation methods.

Purpose: Bayesian inference has become popular. It offers several pragmatic approaches to account for uncertainty in inference decision-making. Various estimation methods have been introduced to implement Bayesian methods.

Nationwide population-based surveys of Iranian COVID-19 Serological Surveillance (ICS) program: The surveys protocol.

Serological surveillance of COVID-19 through conducting repetitive population-based surveys can be useful in estimating and monitoring changes in the prevalence of infection across the country. This paper presents the protocol of nationwide population-based surveys of the Iranian COVID-19 Serological Surveillance (ICS) program. The target population of the surveys is all individuals ≥6 years in Iran.

Prevalence of COVID-19 in Iran: results of the first survey of the Iranian COVID-19 Serological Surveillance programme.

Objectives: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the general population of Iran.

Methods: The target population was all Iranian people aged 6 years and older in the country. A stratified random sampling design was used to select 28 314 people from among the individuals registered in the electronic health record systems used in primary health care in Iran.

Prevalence of premature ovarian insufficiency and its determinants in Iranian populations: Tehran lipid and glucose study.

Background: Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) considered as a concerning health issue for women of reproductive age. In this study we aim to estimate the prevalence of POI and assessing the influential factors.

Methods: Data was obtained from Tehran lipid and glucose study (TLGS).

Age, Period and Cohort Analysis of Smoking Prevalence in Iranian Population over a 25-Year Period.

Background: Current and daily smoking prevalence rates have been have investigated in several cross-sectional studies. However, analyses in terms of age-period-cohort (APC) have not been carried out. We assessed daily smoking dynamics over a 25-year period using the APC model.

Unsafe Injection Is Associated with Higher HIV Testing after Bayesian Adjustment for Unmeasured Confounding.

Background: To apply a novel method to adjust for HIV knowledge as an unmeasured confounder for the effect of unsafe injection on future HIV testing.

Methods: The data were collected from 601 HIV-negative persons who inject drugs (PWID) from a cohort in San Francisco. The panel-data generalized estimating equations (GEE) technique was used to estimate the adjusted risk ratio (RR) for the effect of unsafe injection on not being tested (NBT) for HIV.

Bayesian methods for clinicians.

The Bayesian methods have received more attention in medical research. It is considered as a natural paradigm for dealing with applied problems in the sciences and also an alternative to the traditional frequentist approach. However, its concept is somewhat difficult to grasp by nonexperts.

Spatio-temporal analysis of misaligned burden of disease data using a geo-statistical approach.

Data used to estimate the burden of diseases (BOD) are usually sparse, noisy, and heterogeneous. These data are collected from surveys, registries, and systematic reviews that have different areal units, are conducted at different times, and are reported for different age groups. In this study, we developed a Bayesian geo-statistical model to combine aggregated sparse, noisy BOD data from different sources with misaligned areal units.

The Success Rate and Factors Affecting the Outcome of Assisted Reproductive Treatment in Subfertile Men.

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the success rate of male infertility treatment and the factors affecting its outcome.

Methods: In a historical cohort study, from Mar 2013 to Mar 2014, 323 couples with male factor were investigated. Couples had treated with IUI or/and ICSI were included randomly.

Design and Psychometrics of the Assessment Instrument for Innovation Capabilities of Medical Sciences Universities Using the Cube Model Approach.

Background: To investigate any subject, a scholar needs a suitable instrument to collect the required information with the utmost accuracy and the least amount of error. Therefore, this study aimed at designing and conducting a psychometric analysis of an assessment instrument for innovation capabilities of Medical Sciences Universities using the Cube Model Approach.

Methods: This study began by searching in questionnaires in the fields of input and process, considering innovation outcomes.

Health Care Utilization and Expenditure in War Survivors.

Background: To describe the utilization and out-of-pocket (OOP) payments of war survivors receiving health care services and its determinants.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out by systematic random sampling at national level (n = 3079) on healthcare utilization in war survivors on their last received services. A validated questionnaire was used to gather the information of inpatient and outpatient healthcare services and OOP payment.

Molecular Characterization of spp. from Some Parts of Iran.

Background: Identification of liver flukes, , and by morphometric parameters is not always reliable due to the overlapping measurements. This study aimed to characterize the liver flukes of animals from different parts of Iran by the genetic markers, ITS1, and .

Methods: We collected flukes from infected livestock in six provinces of Iran from Sep to Nov 2016.

Methods of competing risks flexible parametric modeling for estimation of the risk of the first disease among HIV infected men.

Background: Patients infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are susceptible to many diseases. In these patients, the occurrence of one disease alters the chance of contracting another. Under such circumstances, methods for competing risks are required.

Age, period and cohort analysis of high cholesterol levels in Iranian adults over a 20-year period.

Purpose: Hypercholesterolemia is one of the most important modifiable risk factors of non-communicable diseases and data on their values in different societies and their trend of changes should be updated every couple of years. Many studies have focused on assessing the prevalence of high cholesterol. We must emphasise that most of these studies were cross-sectional and did not directly investigate the temporal trends of change for age, period and birth cohort (APC).

Dr. Hossein Malekafzali: A Pioneer in Iran's Health Evolution and Development.

Dr Malekafzali, an elite biostatistics professor at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, in his more than 50 years of glorious service, has played a crucial role in creation of fundamental evolution in public health, reproductive health and development of applied research in Iran. He has left lasting activities in administrative positions such as health and research deputies, health minister consultant, director of health faculty and director of health research institutes. He published several books and articles on statistics, epidemiology and public health.

Serum Levels of Vitamin D, Retinol and Zinc in Relation to overweight among Toddlers: Findings from a National Study in Iran.

Background: Some studies have examined the association between micronutrient deficiencies and overweight in children, but data in this regard are conflicting. This study was done to investigate the association between serum levels of vitamin D, A and zinc with overweight in a large sample of Iranian toddlers.

Methods: A total of 4261 toddlers, aged 15-23 months, who had an Iranian birth certificate and attended primary health care, were included in the current cross-sectional study.

Valuation of Quality Weights for EuroQol 5-Dimensional Health States With the Time Trade-Off Method in the Capital of Iran.

Background: The EuroQol 5-dimension (EQ-5D) is a standard instrument that is widely used for measuring health-related quality of life and quality-adjusted life years in economic evaluation of healthcare interventions.

Objective: To estimate a preference valuation set for EQ-5D 3-level (3L) health states from the perspective of the general population in the capital of Iran.

Methods: Eight hundred seventy adults aged ≥18 years were interviewed in Tehran (Iran's capital) from July to November 2013.

Practical Difficulties in Estimating The Prevalence of Primary Infertility in Iran.

Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO)'s clinical, epidemiological and demographic definitions, infertility is an inability to become pregnant within one, two or five years of exposure to pregnancy, respectively. Inconsistent infertility-related definitions and various methodological approaches make it difficult to compare quantitative data in this regard and consequently, have negatively influenced estimating the prevalence of infertility. The present study reviewed the results of a large population-based survey on how the clinical, epidemiological and demographic definitions of infertility produce different results in terms of infertility prevalence in Iran and subsequently, compared the findings in order to find the right time of treatment-seeking by couples.

Risk Ratio Estimation in Longitudinal Studies.

Longitudinal studies are very common in medical, behavioral, and interventional sciences. One measure of effect of interest in longitudinal studies is risk ratio, naturally estimated by log-binomial regression which suffers from convergence problem. Odds ratio does not well approximate risk ratio when the outcome is common, so alternative methods have been introduced in cohort studies with one follow-up visit.

Estimating the Net Survival of Patients with Gastric Cancer in Iran in a Relative Survival Framework.

Background: Iran is an Eastern Mediterranean region country with the highest rate of gastric cancer. The present study aimed to evaluate the 5-year net survival of patients with gastric cancer in Iran using a relative survival framework.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study, using life-table estimation of relative survival, we reported 1- to 5-year relative survival regarding age, sex, disease stage, pathology, and adjuvant therapies via modeling excess mortality.