Objectives: The quality of life (QoL) of the elderly and elder abuse are growing public health concerns. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of abuse and the association between QoL and abuse in older adults. Methods:Multistage random cluster sampling, along with valid QoL (LEIPAD: LEIden, the Netherlands; PADua, Italy; Helsinki, Finland) and abuse questionnaires, were used to assess QoL and elder abuse. Path analysis was performed using Mplus. SPSS and AMOS were used for the other analyses.Results: A total of 386 elderly individuals with a mean age of 68.00±6.10 years were interviewed, of whom 200 (51.8%), 289 (74.9%), and 376 (97.4%) were women, educated, and married, respectively. Moreover, 167 (43.2%) had low-to-moderate QoL, and 108 (27.9%) had experienced a moderate level of abuse. QoL and abuse were inversely associated (r=-0.253), with men (β=-0.24) more affected than women (β=-0.21). Musculoskeletal disorders were also strong determinants of QoL in the elderly. QoL was strongly associated with emotional abuse, while abuse was highly related to the social component of QoL. Furthermore, emotional abuse was the type of abuse most significantly associated with the self-care, depression/anxiety, cognitive, and social components of QoL. Sexual abuse, violation of personal rights, and neglect were the main determinants of the physical functioning, life satisfaction, and sexual domains of QoL, respectively. Conclusions:Nearly half of the elderly individuals lacked a high QoL, and at least one-fourth had experienced some form of abuse. Elder abuse was correlated inversely with QoL. Therefore, preventive interventions are recommended to decrease elder abuse in the family, community, and other settings.

Introduction: Computer Tomography (CT) scans can deliver a relatively high radiation dose to the patient, therefore radiation protection for this modality is paramount. The present study determined the frequency of no abnormality detected (NAD) brain CT scans and probability of cancer induction in different age groups and genders. Methods: In this study, brain CT reports were used to identify any findings as abnormality detected (AD) and others as NAD. Then probability of future leukemia and brain cancer was estimated for different age and gender groups. Results: On average, in 65% of the cases the results were NAD (56% and 76% among males and females, respectively). Among children, 79% of the reports were NAD. The total number of projected brain cancers was 1.8 and 1.3 for males and females, respectively. The number of projected leukemia cases was 0.75 and 0.7 for males and females, respectively. For pediatric patients, brain CT scans can lead to leukemia cases about 4.5 times more often than adults. Conclusion: Brain CT scans can lead to additional cases of brain cancer and leukemia. A significant fraction of brain CTs were NAD (non-pathologic) and could practically be replaced by other radiation-free imaging modalities, especially in pediatric and young patients.

Objectives: Sleep disturbance is one of the main complaints of the elderly. In this study, we aimed to determine the correlates of sleep disturbance in the elderly population. Methods: In this population-based study, sleep disturbance was assessed by completing the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS. Results: A total of 386 elderly individuals participated in this study. Overall, 213 (55.2%) participants reported sleep disturbances. The elderly with heart disease, low quality of life (QOL), chronic pain, single marital status, and osteoporosis had the lowest quality of sleep (QOS), followed by non-providers of family's costs. The elderly with chronic pain and lower QOL suffered from daytime dysfunction more than those with osteoporosis, who mostly suffered from sleep latency. Conclusions: One out of two elderly people had low QOS. Heart disease, low QOL, chronic pain, and osteoporosis should be considered in the elderly QOS improvement.

Background The novel coronavirus disease 2019 has severely affected communities around the world. Fear and stress of being infected, along with pressure caused by lockdown, prevention protocols, and the economic downturn, increased tension among people, which consequently led to the rise of domestic violence (DV). Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the rate of change in DV and its associated factors during the COVID-19 epidemic in Shiraz, Iran. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 653 individuals with the age of over 15 years from Shiraz were participated through snowball sampling and filled out an online questionnaire through the WhatsApp platform. A 51-item, self-administered and multidimensional (knowledge, attitude, and practice) questionnaire was designed and assessed 653 participants. The gathered data was analyzed using SPSS software (version 25), and variables with a p-value of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results In this study, 64.2% of the respondents were within the age range of 31–50 years, and 72.6% of the subjects were female. Furthermore, 73.8 and 73.0% of the individuals were married and educated for over 12 years, respectively. The DV increased by 37.5% during the quarantine period, compared to before the pandemic. The emotional type was the most common type of violence; the sexual type was the least frequent. Multivariate analysis indicated that infection with COVID-19, drug use, high level of co-living observation of anti-COVID prevention protocols, and lower level of physical activity during the quarantine period had a positive and significant association with the occurrence of DV. Conclusion Based on the obtained results, it is required to implement effective harm-reduction policies and measures in the community due to the increasing rate of DV during the COVID-19 epidemic.

<b><i>Background/Aims:</i></b> Quality of life (QOL) and Alzheimer disease (AD) among older people have been recognized as public health challenges. Here, we investigated the association between QOL and AD in the elders. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In this cross-sectional study, elderly people were selected from urban health centers (Shiraz, Iran) by multistage cluster random sampling and were interviewed using LEIPAD (for QOL) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (for AD) questionnaires. The data was analyzed using Mplus (version 6.12) and IBM SPSS (version 25) software. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The participants consisted of 182 elderly with a mean age of 67 ± 5.05 years, and 95 (52.2%) of them were females. There were 161 (88.5%) and 130 (71.4%) cases educated up to 12 years and married, respectively. Furthermore, 46 (25.3%) had low-to-moderate QOL, and 132 (72.5%) were suspected to have AD. QOL was inversely associated with AD, and men (β = –0.310) were more affected than women (β = –0.290). AD (β = –0.298), age (β = –0.288), hypertension (β = –0.267), education (β = 0.260), and body mass index (β = –0.198) were determinants of QOL. Also, physical activity was indirectly associated with QOL (β = 0.076). AD was correlated with the cognitive functioning component of QOL (<i>r</i> = –0.72). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> One elder out of 4, did not have desirable QOL and 3 elders out of 4 were suspected to have AD. AD can decrease QOL among the older people. Screening of the elders for AD is recommended to improve their QOL by health centers.

Background Quality of life (QOL) in the elderly people was not addressed as much as their life expectancy. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the QOL in the elders. Method In this cross-sectional study, the elders were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling from health centers-covered population of Shiraz, Iran and interviewed individually. The Persian version of the Leiden-Padua (LIEPAD) questionnaire, consisting of core components (CCQOL) and moderators (MQOL) of QOL was used. SPSS software (version 25) was applied for data analysis. Results The mean age of 386 participants was 68.12 ± 6.24 years. The female to male ratio was 1.1 and 350 (90.7%) educated up to 12 years. The mean score of QOL (sum of CCQOL and MQOL) was 83.67 ± 13.75 (out of 147); consisting of 27 (6.9%) participants with low, 316 (81.8%) with moderate and 43 (11%) with high level of QOL. The mean scores of CCQOL and MQOL were 70.68 ± 9.42 (out of 93) and 14.14 ± 2.46 (out of 54), respectively. Multivariable analysis showed that sleep disorder (B = -0.15), osteoporosis (B = -0.14), female gender (B = -0.13), and not being the source of family income (B = -0.13) were significantly and inversely associated with QOL, while sleep disorder, facing to violence, female gender, migraine, psychological disease and not being the source of family income were inversely associated with CCQOL. Sexual problem, facing to violence, not having supplementary insurance, inability to walk and migraine had a significant and an inverse correlation with MQOL. Conclusion Four out of five elders in the Shiraz region have moderate level of QOL, while the elder females and the elders with chronic diseases, as well as the elders who are not the source of their family income had a lower level of QOL. Quality of life in the elders can be improved through an integrated care program in the health centers.

Background With the unprecedented pace of modernization, risky sexual behaviors have become more frequent in developing countries, such as Iran. We aimed to assess the prevalence of informal sexual relationship (ISR) and factors associated with having ISR in young adult in Iran. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted on 414 young adult smartphone users in Iran, in 2019. Data was collected through an online questionnaire (including: ISR, socio-demographic variables, their use of social network, religious beliefs, personality, and loneliness). Logistic regression model was used to determine factors related to ISR. Results A total of 152 (36.7%; 95% CI 32.1–45.6) participants reported having ISR. Finding an opposite-sex friend through a mobile app (OR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.34, 5.01), being currently sexually active (OR = 2.39, 95% CI 1.26, 4.56), higher scores of extroverted personality (OR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.01, 1.27), and closer relationship with parents (OR = 3.17, 95% CI 2.25, 8.02) were found to be associated with having ISR. Additionally, living in small cities rather than the provincial capital (OR = 0.23, 95% CI 0.10, 0.49) had a reverse association with having ISR. Conclusions This study illustrated the high prevalence of ISR and its association with increased duration of internet and mobile app use. Innovative and multidisciplinary approaches could be recommended in this regard.

Background Smartphone apps provide a more accessible way for people to find friends and potential sexual partners. This study aimed to investigate the effects of contributing factors on the number of lifetime sexual partners and its gender differences among smartphone application users.Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in the summer of 2017 in Southwest of Iran via an online web-based questionnaire. Out of 414 smartphone users who completed the questionnaire, 169 were excluded due to not using mobile or apps to access sexual information and 245 were finally studied. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 25.0 and Mplus version 6.12. The path analysis was run for both men and women separately. The significant level was considered to be < 0.05 in all analysis. In addition, goodness of fit models were used by determining several indices.Results For both genders, the most effective variables on the number of lifetime sexual partners was the attitude toward the premarital relationship and more permissive attitude was accompanied with more number of sexual partner. Other similar contributing factors in both genders were calling by the Internet, duration of the Internet usage, marital relationship, employment status, birth place, emotional instability, and openness to experience personality. Intimacy with parents was another effective factor, which was only effective for females.Conclusion Due to the necessity of using smartphones, pre-puberty training and informing about the potential risks of the virtual environment should be considered. In this way, the role of parents should not be ignored.