No data exist on the population prevalence of, or risk factors for, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in Iran or the Middle East. Cervical specimens were obtained from 825 married women aged 18-59 years from the general population of Tehran, Iran and from 45 locally diagnosed invasive cervical cancers (ICC) according to the standardized protocol of the International Agency for Research on Cancer HPV Prevalence Surveys. HPV was detected and genotyped using a GP5+/6+ PCR-based assay. HPV prevalence in the general population was 7.8% (95% confidence interval: 6.0-9.8) (5.1% of high-risk types), with no significant variation by age. HPV positivity was significantly higher among divorced women, women in polygamous marriages and those reporting husband's absence from home for >7 nights/month. HPV16/18 accounted for 30 and 82.2% of HPV-positive women in the general population and ICC, respectively. Cervical cancer prevention policies should take into account the relatively low HPV prevalence in this population.

Males were affected more than females. A significant male predominance was observed in craniopharyngioma and medulloblastoma. Astrocytoma was the first most common brain tumor in all age groups. Certain tumor types show a predilection for the certain period of life.

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most common cancer in Iranian women as is worldwide. Mammography screening has been introduced as a beneficial method for reducing mortality and morbidity of this disease.ObjectivesWe developed an analytical model to assess the cost effectiveness of an organized mammography screening program in Iran for early detection of the breast cancer.Patients and MethodsThis study is an economic evaluation of mammography screening program among Iranian woman aged 40 - 70 years. A decision tree and Markov model were applied to estimate total quality adjusted life years (QALY) and lifetime costs.ResultsThe results revealed that the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) of mammography screening in Iranian women in the first round was Int. $ 37,350 per QALY gained. The model showed that the ICER in the second and third rounds of screening program were Int. $ 141,641 and Int. $ 389,148 respectively.ConclusionsStudy results identified that mammography screening program was cost-effective in 53% of the cases, but incremental cost per QALY in the second and third rounds of screening are much higher than the accepted payment threshold of Iranian health system. Thus, evaluation of other screening strategies would be useful to identify more cost-effective program. Future studies with new national data can improve the accuracy of our finding and provide better information for health policy makers for decision making.

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Improvements of early diagnosis modalities have led to longer survival rates. This study aimed to determine the 5, 10 and 15 year mortality rates of breast cancer patients compared to the normal female population. Materials and Methods: The follow up data of a cohort of 615 breast cancer patients referred to Iranian Breast Cancer Research Center (BCRC) from 1986 to 1996 was considered as reference breast cancer dataset. The dataset was divided into 5 year age groups and the 5, 10 and 15 year probability of death for each group was estimated. The annual mortality rate of Iranian women was obtained from the Death Registry system. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) of breast cancer patients were calculated using the ratio of the mortality rate in breast cancer patients over the general female population. Results: The mean age of breast cancer patients at diagnosis time was 45.9 (±10.5) years ranging from 24-74. A total of 73, 32 and 2 deaths were recorded at 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively, after diagnosis. The SMRs for breast cancer patients at 5, 10 and 15 year intervals after diagnosis were 6.74 (95% CI, 5.5-8.2), 6.55 (95%CI, 5-8.1) and 1.26 (95%CI, 0.65-2.9), respectively. Conclusion: Results showed that the observed mortality rate of breast cancer patients after 15 years from diagnosis was very similar to expected rates in general female population. This finding would be useful for clinicians and health policy makers to adopt a beneficial strategy to improve breast cancer survival. Further follow-up time with larger sample size and a pooled analysis of survival rates of different centres may shed more light on mortality patterns of breast cancer.

Background: Early in the 21st century, cancers are the second cause of death worldwide. Colon cancer is third most common cancer and one of the few amenable to early diagnosis and treatment. Evaluation of factors affecting this cancer is important to increase survival time. Some of these factors affecting all diseases including cancer are social determinants of health. According to the importance of this disease and relation with these factors, this study was conducted to assess the relationship between social determinants of health and colon cancer survival. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study for patients with colon cancer registered in the Cancer Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, from April 2005 to November 2006, performed using questionnaires filled by telephone interview with patients (if patients had died, with family members). Data was analyzed with SPSS software (version 19) for descriptive analysis and STATA software for survival analysis including log rank test and three step Cox Proportional Hazard regression. Results: Five hundred fifty nine patients with ages ranging from 23 to 88 years with mean± standard deviation of 63±11.8 years were included in the study. The five year survival was 68.3%( 387 patients were alive and 172 patients were dead by the end of the study). The Cox proportional hazard regression showed 5-year survival was related to age (HR=0.53, p=0.042 for>50 years versus<50 years old) in first step, gender (HR=0.60, p=0.006 for female versus male) in second step, job (HR=1.7, p=0.001 for manual versus non manual jobs), region of residency (HR=3.49, p=0.018 for west versus south regions), parents in childhood (HR=2.87, p=0.012 for having both parents versus not having), anatomical cancer location (HR=2.16, p<0.033 for colon versus rectal cancer) and complete treatment (HR=5.96, p<0.001 for incomplete versus complete treatment). Conclusions: Social determinants of health such as job, city region residency and having parents during childhood have significant effects in 5-year survival of colon cancer and it may be better to consider these factors in addition to developing cancer treatment and to focus on these determinants of health in long-time planning.

BackgroundPatterns in survival can provide information about the burden and severity of cancer, help uncover gaps in systemic policy and program delivery, and support the planning of enhanced cancer control systems. The aim of this paper is to describe the one-year survival rates for breast cancer in two populations using population-based cancer registries: Ardabil, Iran, and British Columbia (BC), Canada.MethodsAll newly diagnosed cases of female breast cancer were identified in the Ardabil cancer registry from 2003 to 2005 and the BC cancer registry for 2003. The International Classification of Disease for Oncology (ICDO) was used for coding cancer morphology and topography. Survival time was determined from cancer diagnosis to death. Age-specific one-year survival rates, relative survival rates and weighted standard errors were calculated using life-tables for each country.ResultsBreast cancer patients in BC had greater one-year survival rates than patients in Ardabil overall and for each age group under 60.ConclusionThese findings support the need for breast cancer screening programs (including regular clinical breast examinations and mammography), public education and awareness regarding early detection of breast cancer, and education of health care providers.

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Research indicates that more than 50% of women with cervical cancer have never been screened, and 10% of them had not been screened in the past 5 years prior to their cancer(United States. Department of Health and Human Services., 2001). Countries with organized screening programs are able to reduce cervical cancer significantly (Aminisani, Armstrong, and Canfell, 2012;Castellsague et al., 2009).