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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]

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]

Objective: Childhood obesity is an important predisposing factor for most non-communicable diseases. The aim of this review was to provide evidence on the prevalence and trends of childhood obesity and overweight in Iran. Methods: Multiple international and Iranian scientific databases were searched for relevant literatures. Two independent reviewers identified relevant papers in several steps. Separatemeta-analyses (using fixed- or random-effect models) were performed to estimate the overall, age, sex, and age--sex specific prevalence of obesity and overweight. Stratified analysis based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, International Obesity Task Force, and World Health Organization definition criteria and study year also were performed. Results:We included 107 studies in the meta-analysis (49 English and 58 Persian). Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition criteria, the overall prevalence of obesity and overweight remained relatively constant in the 2000s and are estimated to be about 5.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.4-5.8) and 10.8% (95% CI, 10.2-11.4), respectively. The meta-regression analysis showed that the prevalence of obesity and overweight did not vary significantly with respect to sex and age of study participants. Girls had a lower prevalence of obesity and higher prevalence of overweight than boys. Conclusion: This review, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa, suggests that although the trend in the prevalence of childhood obesity in Iranian children is not considerably high, but the escalating trend of excess weight among young children is alarming and should be considered by providers of interventional preventive programs at national and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]