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Background Asthma is a chronic airway disease characterized by an overreaction of the airways to a wide range of stimuli. Objective To determine the relationship between the incidence and mortality rate of asthma and the levels of PM2.5, ozone, and household air pollution (HAP) from 1990 to 2016 in the world. Materials and methods This ecological study was conducted across 194 countries. The asthma incidence and mortality rates were extracted from IHME Global Burden of Disease databases. Data on average annual population-weighted HAP, PM2.5, and ozone were obtained from the State of Global Air website. A model-based clustering with a finite mixture of matrix-variate normal distributions was used to identify countries with a similar pattern of three air pollution index values. The number of clusters was determined by the Bayesian information criterion, and R software was used for integrated completed likelihood criterion. The random-effects model was applied to evaluate the relationship between asthma incidence in groups and different years by using the SAS software. Results The countries were classified into five clusters in terms of the mean of PM2.5, ozone, and HAP. The incidence rates had a decreasing trend during 1990–2005 and an increasing trend during 2011–2016 in the clusters. The lowest incidence and mortality rates were observed for countries of cluster 3. The highest incidence and mortality rates were observed for countries in clusters 1 and 2, respectively. The incidence and mortality ratio trends experienced an increase in cluster 1 and a decrease in other clusters. Conclusions Depending on the mortality and incidence trends of asthma in countries in each cluster, effective national and international intervention measures are recommended to deal with such pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Melanoma is a skin cancer that has higher mortality among cutaneous malignant tumours. Tumour incidence in most world regions is rising. Here, we intend to highlight these trends in the world. Methods: We used the global burden of disease dataset to assess the incidence and mortality of melanoma from 1995 to 2019 in 204 countries/territories. To identify country/territory groups with similar trends of melanoma incidence and mortality, a model‐based clustering with a mixture of multivariate t‐distributions was used. Results: Australia and New Zealand had the largest incidence and mortality rates. Men in Egypt and women in Sri Lanka and Guam had the lowest incidence and mortality rates. The clustering analysis revealed 4 classes of incidence in both gender and 3 and 2 classes of mortality in male and female, respectively. All groups had a growing incidence rate in both gender, similar to the worldwide trend. In 10% of the countries/territories, central and Western Europe, the incidence increase rate was greater than in the countries/territories with the greatest incidence. The total mortality rate for men was steadily growing, although it was decreasing in Asian and African countries/territories. Overall, the mortality rate for women remained relatively steady over time. Conclusion: Due to the increasing trend of melanoma in the world, primary and secondary prevention of this disease, especially in areas with higher incidence and mortality, is essential. Raising awareness about the disease is helpful in prevention and early detection of melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Incidence trend of MS in recent years has been decreasing in Markazi province. • the prevalence trend of MS in this province has been increasing. • Markazi province is one of the regions with a high prevalence and incidence of MS compared to national and universal statistical data. The epidemiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibits significant variability all over the world. Additionally, the incidence and prevalence of the disease are geographically diverse in the different provinces of Iran. Due to the lack of a research about the epidemiology of MS in the Markazi province of Iran, the present study aimed to estimate its prevalence and incidence in this province. This cross-sectional register study was conducted according to the data related to the MS Society of Markazi province. The inclusion criteria were definite MS during 2010–2019, residence in Markazi province, and membership in the MS society of Markazi province. The annual incidence and prevalence of MS (per 100,000 person-years) were computed by sex and age groups. Further, age-standardized prevalence and incidence rates were calculated based on the Iranian population. A gamma regression model with log link was utilized for comparing the rates over time statistically. The prevalence and incidence rates were computed by using Excel, and R 4.0.5 was applied to fit the gamma model. In the study, the total number of MS cases was 1,391, among whom 1,098 (78.9%) and 293 (21.1%) were females and males, respectively. The onset of MS occurred at the mean (S.D) age of 31.76 (8.98) years with a female/male ratio of 3.75. During the study period (2010–2019), the incidence rate of the disease was on the decline, while the prevalence rate elevated, by indicating a rising trend in MS prevalence in both sexes. The results represented the decreasing and increasing trend of the incidence and prevalence of MS in Markazi province over the recent years. The province is one of the regions with a high prevalence and incidence rate of MS compared to the national and global statistical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]