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Background and Objectives: Exposure to lead and its effects on children's health is one of the most important and widespread concerns of human societies today. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic study was to evaluate blood lead levels in Iranian children. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Scientific Information Database (SID), and Iran Medex databases were comprehensively searched for papers published from 2005 to the end of October 2021. Studies that reported blood lead levels in Iranian children were collected. Then the articles were evaluated according to a pre-prepared checklist. Results: Of a total of 143 articles found in the initial search, 13 studies were included in our systematic review. The lowest and highest mean blood lead levels were 0.65 micrograms per deciliter in Abadan and 57.1 micrograms per deciliter in Mashhad, respectively. In three studies conducted in Mashhad and Isfahan, blood lead levels were reported to be higher than 5 Micrograms per deciliter in all children studied. The level of education of the father, the use of canned food, the habit of eating soil by the child, damage to the paint of the house, and the reduction of blood iron levels were the effective factors in increasing the blood lead levels in Iranian children. Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of blood lead samples above 5 micrograms per deciliter in some studies, reducing the exposure to lead should be seriously pursued by health policy makers and health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper details the findings of a study which focused on the analysis of the cultural representation of disability in school textbooks in Iran and England. The paper argues that whilst inclusive education could facilitate the incorporating of disabled pupils into mainstream schools, there needs to be deeper examination as to how this transition should take place for children aged 3–13. The paper suggests that in such examinations, school textbooks might be of significance in familiarising non-disabled pupils, teachers and authorities with the issues related to disability and disabled pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Children with autism are a special group of individuals with different needs. They need to be active and they need to receive special attention to decrease the symptoms of autism. COVID-19 pandemic was an unexpected situation, which lead to quarantine. There was no more opportunity for gathering of children and it had some side effects on physical and psychological characters of children with autism. This paper has tried to have a look at this issue and suggest solutions for this group of children. It should be noted that, all of the published researches in this field, confirmed the need for doing regular physical activity at home to prevent from physical and psychological side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Symptoms of methadone poisoning, as one of the most dangerous types of poisoning, are very serious in children. Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe causes and clinical symptoms of methadone poisoning in children admitted to hospitals in Iran. Data Sources: Relevant studies published in national and international journals before January 29, 2016 were identified by studying the available databases, including PubMed, Web of Sciences, Google Scholar, Scopus, SID, Iranmedex, MagIran, and Irandoc. Study Selection: After excluding duplicate, irrelevant, and low-quality articles, relevant papers were entered into the meta-analysis. The prevalence, mean, and standard deviation of methadone poisoning symptoms in children were statistically analyzed, using Stata version 11, and causes of methadone poisoning were presented in tables. Data Extraction: Studies with unknown sample sizes, abstracts without access to full text, articles with quality assessment scores below 15.5, and studies carried out on non-Iranian populations were excluded from the meta-analysis. Results: During the initial advanced search, 1594 articles were identified. After quality assessment, 12 papers were found eligible for the final systematic review and meta-analysis, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The reported symptoms included drowsiness, vomiting, apnea, cyanosis, seizure, ataxia, and delirium. In the meta-analysis, prevalence of symptoms in referred patients was estimated at 44% (0.95% confidence interval, 0.288 to 0.609). The causes of poisoning in children included accidental feeding by parents, storage of drugs in inappropriate containers, parental addiction, and low educational level of parents. Conclusions: It is important to keep methadone in a suitable container away from children. Also, it is essential to focus on educating parents on health issues of their children.

Objective: We aimed to conduct a review to investigate the prevalence of anxiety disorders among Iranian children and adolescents. Method: We systematically reviewed the literature up to June 2014. We searched three Persian databases (Magiran, IranMedex and SID) and three English databases: PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO. All original studies that investigated the current prevalence of anxiety in a sample of Iranian children and adolescents were entered into the study. All studies conducted on special samples or in special settings were excluded. By searching English databases, we obtained 124 original studies. After removing duplicate papers, 120 articles remained. In the next step, we screened the articles based on their title. In sum, 95 Persian and English articles had relevant titles. After screening based on the abstract and full text, 26 studies remained. After screening based on the full text, all selected studies were qualitatively assessed by two evaluators separately. Result: Twenty five studies were eligible and reported different types of anxiety disorders (i.e., generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, obsessive- compulsive disorder, phobias and panic disorder). The samples varied from 81 to 2996 among studies and their age range was 5 to 18 years. These studies were conducted in different cities of Iran. SCL-90 is a frequently used questionnaire. All anxiety disorders were mostly investigated with the prevalence rates ranging from 6.8% in Saravan to 85% in Bandar Abbas. OCD was the second common study with prevalence rates ranging from 1% in Tabriz to 11.9% in Gorgan . Conclusion: Our findings revealed considerable amount of anxiety disorder among Iranian children and adolescents. Given the fact that anxiety disorder has negative effects on the well-being and function of individuals and can lead to severe problems, this disorder should be considered in mental health programs designed for children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Amblyopia is one of the common eye diseases in children and the risk of vision loss is possible. Therefore, the aim of this study is systematic review and meta-analysis in order to align the studies on the prevalence of amblyopia in Iranian children. METHODS: In this systematic review and meta-analysis relevant articles in scientific databases including SID, Science Direct and Medline (PubMed) and Google Scholar in March 1999- February 2017, using the Persian and English Keywords of Amblyopia, children, Iran. FINDINGS: In the review of internal and external journals and search on SID databases 22 articles, PubMed 126 articles, Science Direct 112 articles and 116 Google Scholar search engines were obtained. Then the articles that had the initial conditions for entry into the study were 162 cases based on preliminary studies, with the elimination of 214 repetitive articles. Finally, removing 120 articles unrelated to the topic of the study and removing 24 articles in the secondary studies ultimately 18 papers entered the meta-analysis process. The overall Prevalence of amblyopia in Iranian children was 5.4 % (Cl-95%: 3.1%-9.1%). CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, the prevalence of amblyopia in Iranian children is high.

Background: Cryptosporidiosis is an important cause of diarrhea in children and immunosuppressive patients. The current study was intended to evaluate the prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium infection and clarify the epidemiological characteristics of the infection in both children and immunosuppressive patients in Iran. Methods: Five English electronic databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus and Cochrane, and two Persian language databases Magiran and Scientific Information Database were searched. Additionally, reports from the Iranian congresses of parasitology and graduate student thesis dissertations were assessed manually. Results: Out of 1856 studies from the literature search, our search resulted in a total of 27 articles published from 1991 to 2016. These include 14 reports on cryptosporidiosis in children and 13 papers regarding immunosuppressive patients. 8520 children and 2015 immunosuppressed cases were evaluated. Oocysts of Cryptosporidium were found in 3.8% and 8% children cases and immunosuppressed patients, respectively. There was a relatively high variation in the prevalence estimates among different studies, and the Q statistics was high among articles regarding children (p

Objective: We aimed to conduct a review to investigate the prevalence of anxiety disorders among Iranian children and adolescents.We systematically reviewed the literature up to June 2014. Method: We searched three Persian databases (Magiran, IranMedex and SID) and three English databases: PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO. All original studies that investigated the current prevalence of anxiety in a sample of Iranian children and adolescents were entered into the study. All studies conducted on special samples or in special settings were excluded. By searching English databases, we obtained 124 original studies. After removing duplicate papers, 120 articles remained. In the next step, we screened the articles based on their title. In sum, 95 Persian and English articles had relevant titles. After screening based on the abstract and full text, 26 studies remained. After screening based on the full text, all selected studies were qualitatively assessed by two evaluators separately. Result: Twenty five studies were eligible and reported different types of anxiety disorders (i.e., generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias and panic disorder). The samples varied from 81 to 2996 among studies and their age range was 5 to 18 years. These studies were conducted in different cities of Iran. SCL-90 is a frequently used questionnaire. All anxiety disorders were mostly investigated with the prevalence rates ranging from 6.8% in Saravan to 85% in Bandar Abbas. OCD was the second common study with prevalence rates ranging from 1% in Tabriz to 11.9% in Gorgan. Conclusion: Our findings revealed considerable amount of anxiety disorder among Iranian children and adolescents. Given the fact that anxiety disorder has negative effects on the well-being and function of individuals and can lead to severe problems, this disorder should be considered in mental health programs designed for children and adolescents.

Background: This paper presents the methodology and primary findings of a national project on determinants of weight disorders among Iranian children and adolescents at national and sub-national levels. Methods: This nationwide study was conducted in 2011-2012 in Iran as part of the fourth phase of a national surveillance program entitled Childhood and Adolescence Surveillance and PreventIon of Adult Noncommunicable disease-IV study. It had two phases of qualitative and quantitative study. This multicentric study was conducted among 25,000 students aged 6-18 years, living in urban and rural areas of 30 provinces of Iran. Students were selected by multistage cluster sampling method. Data regarding weight disorders including sociodemographic variables, perinatal factors, lifestyle factors, family and student dietary habits, quality of life, and family history of chronic diseases as well as body image were gathered via validated questionnaires. Results: Overall, 23043 students completed the survey (participation rate: 92.17%). The mean age of participants was 12.55 ± 3.31 years; 50.8% were boys, and 73.4% were from urban areas. Underweight was found in 10.4% of boys and 9.2% of girls, the corresponding figure for overweight and obesity was 21% and 18.3%. Abdominal obesity was found in 17.6% of students. Among parents, obesity was more frequent than other weight disorders, with higher prevalence in parents of girls than boys (24.5% vs. 21.5%, respectively, P < 0.001). Overweight and obesity were more prevalent in urban than in rural parents (66.7% vs. 59.7%, respectively, P < 0.001). Conclusions: This survey serves as confirmatory evidence on the prevalence of dual burden of weight disorders in Iran. Its findings on determinants of weight disorders would help policymakers to implement relevant programs at national and sub-national levels.