A systematic review of individual and ecological determinants of maternal mortality in the world based on the income level of countries.

BACKGROUND: This systematic review was conducted to map the literature on all the existing evidence regarding individual and ecological determinants of maternal mortality in the world and to classify them based on the income level of countries. Such a systematic review had not been conducted before. METHODS: We conducted an electronic search for primary and review articles using "Maternal Mortality" and "Determinant" as keywords or MeSH terms in their Title or Abstract, indexed in Scopus, PubMed, and Google with no time or geographical limitation and also hand searching was performed for most relevant journals. STROBE and Glasgow university critical appraisal checklists were used for quality assessment of the included studies. Data of the determinants were extracted and classified into individual or ecological categories based on income level of the countries according to World Bank classification. RESULTS: In this review, 109 original studies and 12 review articles from 33 countries or at global level met the inclusion criteria. Most studies were published after 2013. Most literature studied determinants of low and lower-middle-income countries. The most important individual determinants in low and lower-middle-income countries were location of birth, maternal education, any delays in health services seeking, prenatal care and skilled birth attendance. Household-related determinants in low-income countries included improved water source and sanitation system, region of residence, house condition, wealth of household, and husband education. Additionally, ecological determinants including human resources, access to medical equipment and facilities, total fertility rate, health financing system, country income, poverty rate, governance, education, employment, social protection, gender inequality, and human development index were found to be important contributors in maternal mortality. A few factors were more important in higher-income countries than lower-income countries including parity, IVF births, older mothers, and type of delivery. CONCLUSION: A comprehensive list of factors associated with maternal death was gathered through this systematic review, most of which were related to lower-income countries. It seems that the income level of the countries makes a significant difference in determinants of maternal mortality in the world.

Prevalence and Determinants of Severe Mental Disorders in Iran: Evidence from the National Survey of STEPs- 2016.

BACKGROUND: The determinants and correlates of severe mental disorders are less understood compared to the common mental disorders, both in the world and in Iran. In this study, we aimed to identify a wide range of determinants of severe stress, severe anger, and severe sadness among Iranian population. METHODS: This study is part of a large nationwide cross-sectional survey entitled STEPs conducted using a comprehensive questionnaire to determine the prevalence of main preventable risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Iran by age and sex groups in 2016. In total, 30541 people aged 18+participated in this study. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations between the dependent variable, which is severe mental disorders, and independent variables including socio-economic factors, lifestyle and selected NCDs. RESULTS: The prevalence of severe stress, severe anger and sever sadness in the Iranian society was 33%, 35%, and 25%, respectively. Of the investigated socio-economic factors, being men, older, never married and living in rural areas were associated with significantly lower experience of severe mental disorders compared to other groups. For education, income and wealth index, there was no linear and clear pattern. Among lifestyle factors, being nonsmoker, having low physical activities, and higher intake of fruits and vegetables were found to be preventive of severe mental disorders. Additionally, having NCDs including hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart attacks were also significantly correlated with severe mental disorders. CONCLUSION: determining factors associated with severe mental disorders in this study would help in raising people's awareness on avoiding harmful factors, and taking healthier lifestyle such as quitting smoke, and consuming enough vegetables and fruits. Screening high risk people in terms of mental health could contribute to the reduction of mental disorders in the Iranian community.

Family Medicine Program in Iran: SWOT Analysis and TOWS Matrix Model.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine strength, weakness, opportunities and threats analysis and intended to present strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats matrix model for appropriate implementation of Family medicine program in Iran. METHODS: This was a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study. All attending physicians in 30 health care centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran were asked to present and prioritized their views about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats factors of family medicine program in Iran in 2015. Then, the prioritization of these factors was showed by weighted score of each factor. Finally, the respondents determined four groups of TOWS model including SO, ST, WO, and WT strategy for development of family medicine in Iran. RESULTS: Totally, the respondents expressed 44 factors as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of family medicine program and prioritized these factors and suggested 30 TOWS matrix strategy for efficient implementation of this program. CONCLUSION: There were many internal and external factors that impress the implementation of family medicine program. There is a gap between the ideal and the current situation of this program. We suggest the health care system policy makers notice the TOWS matrix strategies determined for improvement of family medicine program in Iran.

Determinants and causes of maternal mortality in Iran based on ICD-MM: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: No systematic review has explored the causes of and factors associated with maternal mortality in the context of Iran. This study reviewed determinants and causes of maternal mortalities during pregnancy, delivery and the puerperium using the International Classification of Diseases-Maternal Mortality (ICD-MM), introduced by the World Health Organization. METHODS: A systematic electronic search of all the studies that identified causes and/or determinants of maternal deaths in any part of Iran or in the whole country were included, without any restriction of time or language of studies. To identify the studies to include in this study, a combination of hand searching and bibliographies was also conducted. These sources and citations yielded a total of 653 articles; nevertheless, only 29 articles met the inclusion criteria, hence, required data were extracted, summarized, and grouped together from these papers and are reported in the tables. RESULTS: Amongst the 29 studies published between 2003 and 2017 in Iran, 24 studies were cross-sectional. Overall, 4633 deaths were reviewed, and 2655 (58%) of the cases included the data on the causes of death generally. According to the ICD-MM, a total of 69.9, 20.6, and 5.2% of the mortalities were due to direct, indirect and unspecified causes respectively and 4.3% of the causes were not clear in several studies. The leading direct and indirect causes of death were identified as hemorrhage (30.7%) and hypertensive disorders (17.1%) and circulatory system diseases (8.1%) respectively. Several factors including gravidity, type of delivery, socio-economic status of mothers, locations of birth, death and maternity care venues were found in the original studies as the most important determinant of maternal mortalities in Iran. CONCLUSIONS: This study, provided an updated summary of evidences on the causes and determinants of maternal death in Iran, which is critically important for the development of interventions and reduction of the burden of maternal mortality and morbidities.