OBJECTIVES: Unhealthy dietary patterns are the most important changeable risk factors for breast cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between dietary patterns and the risk of breast cancer among under-50 year women in the west of Iran.METHODS: All women under 50 years old with pathologically confirmed breast cancer between 2013 and 2015 who were referred to oncology clinics in the west of Iran, and 408 under-50 women referred to other outpatient clinics who were without breast or other cancers at the time of the study and 2 years later were selected as the control group. The data were collected using the middle-aged periodical care form of the Iranian Ministry of Health and analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression in Stata.RESULTS: The most powerful risk factor for breast cancer was fried foods; the odds ratio of consuming fried foods more than once a month for breast cancer was 4.5 (95% confidence interval, 2.1 to 9.4). A dose-response model indicated that increasing vegetable and fruit consumption up to 90 servings per month decreased the odds of breast cancer, but consuming more than 90 servings per month increased the risk.CONCLUSIONS: Inadequate consumption of vegetables and consumption of soft drinks, industrially produced juices, fried foods, and sweets were identified as risk factors for breast cancer. In response to these findings, it is necessary to raise awareness and to provide education about healthy diets and the need to change unhealthy dietary patterns.

BackgroundAlthough the use of contraceptive hormones is a risk factor for development of breast cancer, level of risk is unknown; thus the current research was conducted to investigate the effect of factors related to fertility and hormone use on risk of breast cancer in women aged under 50 years old in the west of Iran.MethodsIn this case-control study, all incidence cases of breast cancer aged between 25–49 years old (n=212) were selected. Twice as many as the case group, the individuals referred to other outpatient sections of the same hospital at the time of study and up to 2 years after the follow-up not diagnosed with breast or other cancers were selected as a control group. The data were collected using healthy fertility program and middle-aged periodical care forms developed by Iran’s Ministry of Health (MOH).ResultsAfter controlling for confounding variables, history of hormonal use for contraception (OR=2.02, 95% CI=1.2–3.3) and hormone therapies (OR=1.9, 95% CI=1.2–3.04) were identified as factors increasing the risk of breast cancer. Dose-response relationships between breast cancer and the use of hormones for contraception and hormone therapy indicated that these factors increased the risk of breast cancer. The risk was found to be higher in women who had been under hormone therapy for more than 120 months. With an increase in the age of the first menstruation, risk of breast cancer increased linearly, but with an increase in the age of the first pregnancy, risk of breast cancer increased exponentially. After 20 years of age, the risk increased with a steeper slope.ConclusionConsidering the effect of hormone therapy and fertility factors on breast cancer and changeability of listed risk factors, the researchers suggest planning for sensitizing, increasing the awareness, and educating women and professionals regarding the influence of fertility and hormonal factors including pregnancy at lower ages, minimizing the use of hormones for contraception, and hormone therapy.

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Background and Objective:The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of self-care training for family health ambassadors on the number of doctor appointment for the treatment of minor ailments. Materials and Methods: In this interventional study were surveyed 400 families. This study was performed in 2018-2019.The intervention group included families that had a health ambassador and the intervention was performed for health ambassadors. Data collection tool was a questionnaire designed by the Office of Education and Health Promotion of the Ministry of Health. Demographic information and the number of appointments to the doctor were also asked. According to the titles of the educational text and the family age groups, trainings were provided to health ambassadors once every 2 weeks for a year. Total of 24 training sessions were held by the health care providers of the selected health centers. The questionnaires were completed, one year after the intervention again. Results: Mean and standard deviation of test scores in the experimental group were upgraded before and after the intervention in the field of mothers and infants from 5 (± 2.9) to 22 (± 7.1), children from 5.7 (±1 4.1) to 19.6 (±6.6), adults and the elderly were from 2 (±1) to 9.4 (± 2.9) and adolescents from 2.1 (±1.80).Also, the number of appointments to the doctor due to minor illnesses decreased significantly in the intervention group during the year, so that from 888 appointments to the doctor by family members of trained health ambassadors before the intervention was reduced to 379 times after the intervention.(p<0.05). Conclusion: Continuous self-care training along with following up and training family health ambassadors play an important role in increasing public awareness and reducing the number of unnecessary appointments to the doctor.

BACKGROUND Iron deficiency anaemia is one of the most common nutritional problems in Iran, especially in women and adolescent girls. Iron supplementation is the most cost-effective and most common strategy used by developed countries to control the iron deficiency. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of education based on the theory of planned behaviour on consumption of iron supplement in secondary school girls in Kermanshah, 2017. MATERIALS AND METHODS This quasi-experimental study was carried out with 174 students, girls of first grade of secondary high school from Kermanshah city. The subjects were selected by multistage random sampling method. The students were divided into three groups including student (n= 58), student with mother (n= 58) and one control group (n= 58). A researcher-made questionnaire based on the theory of planned behaviour was used to collect the data. Participants completed self-report questionnaire on demographic variables and theoretical constructs. Then based on the initial results, the educational content was developed. The data were collected immediately and one month after the implementation of the training program it was analysed with SPSS 20 software using Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney and Friedman tests. RESULTS The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms, intention and behaviour of iron supplementation immediately and one month after intervention was significantly increased in intervention groups (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the two intervention groups, although there was a better situation in the intervention group with the mother. CONCLUSION The results of the research show that educational intervention based on the theory of planned behaviour can affect all the structures of the theory and ultimately change the behaviour of the consumption of iron tablets in students.