Cohort Profile Update: The Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP)

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Abstract

The original cohort study of AHAP started in 2011 on 1616 elderly residents of Amirkola, northern part of Iran near the Caspian Sea. The main goal of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the health of the elderly in the region with the emphasis on chronic diseases such as osteoporosis. The first cohort profile was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 2014. The phase 1 AHAP showed the elevated level of some diseases and conditions including osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, obesity, vision problems and relatively low levels of oral health. Therefore, the second phase of this cohort started with more complete population coverage in 2016, not only to collect and record the information based on previous protocol, but also consider new areas such as nutritional status, complete eye and dental examinations and health assessment on the basis of Iranian Traditional Medicine. The new aspect of this project is to conduct clinical and laboratory examinations at the health center to extend more facilities to the elderly. In addition to serum and DNA, samples of saliva, hair and nails are collected and kept under standard conditions in the biobank of this cohort. Researchers can apply for access to data or suggest a collaborative study by submitting the proposal to AHAP committee.

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Cohort profile: the Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP).

Seyed Hosseini, Robert G Cumming, Farzan Kheirkhah … (2014)

This is the first comprehensive cohort study of the health of older people ever conducted in Iran. The aim of this project is to investigate the health status of older people in Amirkola in the northern part of Iran, near the Caspian Sea. The Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP) is mainly concerned with geriatric medical problems, such as falling, bone fragility and fractures, cognitive impairment and dementia, poor mobility and functional dependence. It is planned that all participants will be re-examined after 2 years. Data are collected via questionnaire, examinations and venepuncture. AHAP started in April 2011 and 1616 participants had been seen by 18 July 2012, the end of the baseline stage of this study. The participation rate was 72.3%. The prevalence of self-reported hypertension (41.2%) and diabetes mellitus (23.3%) are high. Only 14.4% of older people considered their health as excellent or good in comparison with others at this age. The prevalence of osteoporosis (T score≤-2.5) was 57.4% in women and 16.1% in men, and 38.2 % of older people were vitamin D deficient (<20 ng/ml). Researchers interested in using the information are invited to contact the principal investigator Seyed Reza Hosseini (hosseinim46@yahoo.com). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2013; all rights reserved.

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Reliability and Validity Assessment of Mizaj Questionnaire: A Novel Self-report Scale in Iranian Traditional Medicine

Morteza Mojahedi, Mohsen Naseri, Reza Majdzadeh … (2014)

Background In Iranian Traditional Medicine, mizaj (temperament) plays a key role in preventive, therapeutic and lifestyle recommendations. A reliable self-reported scale for mizaj identification is critically needed to introduce ITM into the official medical and health care system especially in the case of designing national preventive protocols. Objectives The present study aimed to design a preliminary self-administered mizaj questionnaire and assessed its reliability and validity in Iran. Patients and Methods In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire with 52 items was designed based on mizaj-related indices. Subsequent to content and face validity assessment, using qualitative and quantitative method, 47 items remained. Based on the non-randomly sampling, the test-retest reliability of each question and internal consistency of the questionnaire was examined by the participation of 35 volunteers. The reliable version questionnaire was filled up by 52 volunteers wherein they were divided into warm/cold and wet/dry groups based on their mizaj which was predetermined by a team of expert practitioners. Logistic regression analysis was performed for validity process between the experts’ assessment of mizaj and each of the items in the questionnaire that resulted to the final ten-item questionnaire divided into two subscales. By using ANOVA and post Hoc with Dunnet statistics, the optimum cut-off points were defined and their sensitivity and specificity was assessed. Results The weighted kappa coefficients of the 39 items were between 0.40 and 0.82 showing their acceptable reliability and the Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.71 showing the internal consistency. The sensitivity and specificity of the final questionnaire cut-off points were 65% and 93% for the warm group, 52% and 97% cold group, 53% and 67% dry group and finally 53% and 76% wet group. Conclusions Our results suggested that many of the designed questions according to the literature’s mizaj identification indices had satisfactory reliability and the final ten-item questionnaire could discriminate the different groups of mizaj, therefore, this can be used as the first version of a brief self-report mizaj estimating scale.

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The sensitivity and specificity of a simple test to distinguish between urge and stress urinary incontinence.

, L L Subak, Eric Vittinghoff … (2006)

Urinary incontinence is common in women. Because treatments differ, urge incontinence should be distinguished from stress incontinence. To make this distinction, current guidelines recommend an extensive evaluation that is too time-consuming for primary care practice. To test the accuracy of a simple questionnaire to categorize type of urinary incontinence in women. Multicenter, prospective study of the accuracy of the 3 Incontinence Questions (3IQ) compared with an extended evaluation to distinguish between urge incontinence and stress incontinence. 5 academic medical centers in the United States. 301 women enrolled from April to December 2004 who were older than 40 years of age (mean age, 56 years [SD, 11]) with untreated incontinence for an average of 7 years (SD, 7) and a broad range of incontinence severity. All participants included in the analyses answered the 3IQ questionnaire, and a urologist or urogynecologist who was blinded to the responses performed the extended evaluation. Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios were determined for the 3IQ. For classification of urge incontinence and with the extended evaluation as the gold standard, the 3IQ had a sensitivity of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.68 to 0.81), a specificity of 0.77 (CI, 0.69 to 0.84), and a positive likelihood ratio of 3.29 (CI, 2.39 to 4.51). For classification of stress incontinence, the sensitivity was 0.86 (CI, 0.79 to 0.90), the specificity was 0.60 (CI, 0.51 to 0.68), and the positive likelihood ratio was 2.13 (CI, 1.71 to 2.66). Participants were enrolled by urologists and urogynecologists at academic medical centers. The 3IQ questionnaire is a simple, quick, and noninvasive test with acceptable accuracy for classifying urge and stress incontinence and may be appropriate for use in primary care settings. Similar studies are needed in other populations. We also need a clinical trial comparing the outcomes of treatments based on the 3IQ and the extended evaluation.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Caspian J Intern Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Caspian J Intern Med

Journal ID (publisher-id): CJIM

Title: Caspian Journal of Internal Medicine

Publisher: Babol University of Medical Sciences (Babol, Iran )

ISSN (Print): 2008-6164

ISSN (Electronic): 2008-6172

Publication date (Print): Summer 2017

Volume: 8

Issue: 3

Pages: 205-212

Affiliations

[1 ]Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.

[2 ]Traditional Medicine and History of Medical Sciences Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.

[3 ]Oral Health Research Center, Health Reseach Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.

[4 ]Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.

[5 ] Cellular & Molecular Biology Research Center , Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.

[6 ]School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

Author notes

[** ]Correspondence: Seyed-reza Hosseini, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. E-mail: hosseinirezaseyed@gmail.com, Tel: 0098 1132190149, Fax: 0098 1132207924

Article

DOI: 10.22088/cjim.8.3.205

PMC ID: 5596192

PubMed ID: 28932373

SO-VID: 2f85e155-2f40-47aa-acc5-24e4caec86df

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 1 March 2017

Date revision received : 16 April 2017

Date accepted : 5 May 2017

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