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Background: Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) is one of the life-threatening complications of pregnancy, the prevalence of which has increased in parallel with the caesarean section rate. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of mothers with PAS who have also experienced maternal near miss. Methods: The participants of this study included 8 mothers who had experienced near miss due to placenta accreta during the past year, as well as two husbands and two health care professionals. Data collection was done using face-to-face, in-depth virtual and in-person interviews. In this qualitative study, the interpretive phenomenological analysis approach was used to analyse the data. Results: The superordinate theme that emerged from the lived experiences of the studied mothers is 'Living in a vacuum', which was derived from 3 main themes. The theme of 'distorted identity' is related to the mothers' experience of losing the uterus as a symbol of femininity and nostalgia for the former self. The theme of 'exacerbated exhaustion' indicates the burnout and fatigue perceived by these mothers and has dimensions far beyond the exhaustion caused by performing parenting duties. The third theme, 'a threatened future', reflects these mothers' vague image of the future in terms of health, preservation of life, and the continuation of living together with the husband. Conclusions: It seems that mothers with PAS need to be covered by integrated and well-organised psycho-social support from the time they are diagnosed with the complication until long after delivery due to the high potentiality of maternal near miss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study authors aimed to identify the prevalence and related factors of postpartum depression in Ahvaz, Iran. A total of 505 women enrolled in this study from six public health centers in Ahvaz city, Republic of Iran. This study started in February and completed in September 2014. Data was gathered using a socio-demographic and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale Persian version. Authors screened women from 14 days to 6 months postpartum. Mothers with a score of >12 were classified as a postpartum depression (PPD). Our results revealed that 196 individuals (38.8%) had PPD. Women with PPD had significantly more of the following characteristics: undesired pregnancy, neonatal hospitalization, congenital abnormalities, history of postpartum depression, history of lifetime episode of depression, stressful events during pregnancy and an experience of domestic violence during pregnancy (p < 0.05). Our results showed that congenital abnormalities (OR = 2.99, 95% CI: 1.44-5.90), history of PPD (OR = 2.61, 95% CI:1.53–4.44), a lifetime episode of depression (OR = 3.26, 95% CI: 1.63-6.49) and having stressful events in the last year (OR = 4.1, CI: 2.19–7.80) were significantly contributed to the PPD. PPD is a common health problem among mothers and screening should be performed after childbearing to identify mothers at the risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most frequent symptoms in postmenopausal women is sleep disturbance. This study aimed to determine the relationship between sleep quality and lifestyle factors in postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women (n = 252) in Ahvaz, Iran with an age range of 45–55 years, were enrolled from April to December 2015. The study tools included the Lifestyle Questionnaire (LSQ) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The LSQ contains 10 lifestyle factors: physical health, physical activity, weight control and nutrition, psychological health, spiritual health, social health, medications and narcotics avoidance, illness prevention, accident prevention, and environmental health. Data were analyzed using, chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficients, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regressions. In unadjusted analyses, physical health, physical activity, nutrition, mental health, spiritual health, social health, and medication and narcotics avoidance scores were significantly higher in women without sleep disruption than in those with light and moderate sleep disruption (p <.001). Adjusting for confounding factors, sleep disruption was directly related to duration since the final menstrual period (p <.001), and inversely related to physical health (p =.04) and spiritual health (p =.028). Lifestyle factors were related to sleep disruption in postmenopausal women. Policymakers should consider education on healthy lifestyles for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Menopause is an important stage in the life of every woman. Hot flashes are the most common climacteric symptom and a major cause of suffering in postmenopausal women. Licorice is one of the plants that is used to relieve menopausal symptoms. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of licorice on hot flash symptoms in menopausal women. The participants of this randomized, double blind, clinical trial study were 60 menopausal women randomly allocated to licorice or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) groups. The participants in this trial received licorice (1140 mg/day) or HRT (a conjugated estrogen 0.312 mg/day and Medroxyprogesterone 2.5 mg/day) for 90 days. In this study we observed that licorice is not very different from hormones in terms of reducing the number and duration of hot flashes, but that HRT can reduce the severity of hot flashes significantly better than licorice can. In addition, there was no significant difference between age, education level, marital status, occupation, income, number of pregnancies, time from cessation of menstruation, and severity of hot flashes in the two groups. We observed that licorice seems more effective than HRT in improving hot flash duration, but that HRT can reduce the duration and severity of hot flashes more than licorice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]