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Background: Self-medication is an important concern for health authorities throughout the world. The women of reproductive ages were the most vulnerable groups at risk for self-medication in the society. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and some associated factors of self-medication in women of reproductive ages in Gorgan, north of Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 800 women of reproductive age (15-49 years) who were residents in Gorgan, in 2018-2019. Data were collected through home visits and interviews using a checklist with 19 questions. Data were analyzed in SPSS-16 using Pearsonchr('39')s chi-squared test. Results: Self-medication was reported in 68.9% of reproductive ages. The majority of the self-medication was in the age range of 40-49 years (78.5%). The main cause for self-medication was found to be headache (68.6%) and common cold (57.7%). Most frequently, self-medication was related to pain killer drugs (90.6%) and NSAIDs (64.4%). Also, the major causes of self-medication were found to be the previous use experience (n=307) and availability of drugs at home (n=266). Finally, we found a significant association between self-medication with age, marital status, occupation, education, income, number of children and family size (p

Background and Purpose: Self-medication is an important concern in every part of the world. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and to investigate the associate factors of self-medication among adults in Gorgan, north of Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among adults aged 12 years and above who were residents in Gorgan city. The participants were selected using the multi-stage cluster sampling method. SPSS Software and Pearson's chi-squared test were used for data analysis. Results: A total of 592 households with 2050 respondents were visited. The prevalence of self-medication was 67.9%. A larger number of females were self-medicating (71.3%) than males (63.5%). The majority of the respondents self-medicated because of the previous use experience (59.3%). The main indication for self-medication use was headache (60.8%). Analgesics were the most commonly self-medicated by the respondents (83.9%). Also, 88.6% of the respondents prepared their drug from drugstores. Furthermore, there were significant differences between self-medication and demographics characteristics including gender, age group, marital status, occupation, education level and income (p

Background and objectives: Benzodiazepine poisoning is one of the most important and common medical emergencies worldwide. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pattern of poisoning with benzodiazepines in Gorgan, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study was conducted on patients with acute benzodiazepine poisoning admitted to 5th Azar Hospital in Gorgan between 2008 and 2014. Data were collected from medical records of patients. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 16). Results: Benzodiazepine poisoning accounted for 37.2% of all drug poisoning cases. Of the 230 cases of benzodiazepine poisoning, 108 (50.7%) were female, and most cases (53.5%) belonged to the 20-29 years age group. Suicide attempt was the predominant (91.1%) type of benzodiazepine poisoning. Among the benzodiazepines, alprazolam (33.3%) and diazepam (30.5%) were the chief causes of drug poisoning. In addition, in 7.5% of the subjects, benzodiazepines were taken in combination with other drugs, especially tramadol (19.2%). Age, marital status, employment status, education level and place of residence were significantly associated with benzodiazepine poisoning (P

Objectives: Organophosphate (OP) pesticides inhibit both red blood cell (RBC) and plasma cholinesterases (ChEs). Oximes, especially pralidoxime (2-PAM), are widely used as antidotes to treat OP poisoning. In addition, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is sometimes used as an adjuvant antidote. The current study aimed to assess the feasibility of using NAC as a single therapeutic agent for OP poisoning in comparison to in vitro 2-PAM. Methods:This study was carried out at the Razi Drug Research Center of Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, between April and September 2014. A total of 22 healthy human subjects were recruited and 8 mL citrated blood samples were drawn from each subject. Dichlorvos-inhibited blood samples were separately exposed to low and high doses (final concentrations of 300 and 600 μmol.L-1, respectively) of 2-PAM, NAC and cysteine. Plasma and RBCs were then separated by centrifugation and their ChE activity was measured using spectrophotometry. Results: Although cysteine—and not NAC—increased the ChE activity of both plasma and RBCs over those of dichlorvos, it did not increase them over those of a high dose of 2-PAM. Conclusion:These results suggest that the direct reactions of 2-PAM and cysteine with dichlorvos and the reactivation of phosphorylated ChEs occurr via an associative stepwise addition-elimination process. High therapeutic blood concentrations of cysteine are needed for the elevation of ChE activity in plasma and RBCs; however, both this agent and NAC may still be effective in the reactivation of plasma and RBC ChEs.

Background and purpose: Carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the most common causes of death due to poisoning in Iran. This study is an epidemiological survey of death due to CO poisoning in Golestan province, Iran. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on all profiles of referential bodies to Golestan Department of Forensic Medicine who died due to CO poisoning between 2010 and 2015. Data, including information on demography, poisoning and death condition, were analyzed using SPSS V16. Results: A total of 420 deaths was recorded due to poisoning, of whom 59 (14%) died from CO poisoning which was the third cause of death after opium and rice tablet. The CO poisoning cases included 71.2% (n=42) males. The cases were mainly aged 20–39 years (67.8%, n=40), 64.4% (n=38) were married, and 72.9% (n=43) lived in urban areas. Poisoning occurred mostly in winter (49.2%, n=29). Most CO poisoning incidents happened at home (62.7%, n=37) especially in living room (44.1%, n=26) and bathroom (13.6%, n=8), and gas heaters were the source of poisoning in majority of cases (37.3%, n=22). Conclusion: CO was the third cause of death due to poisoning in Golestan province that was found to be more common among men and in homes with gas heaters. So, more attention on safety of gas heaters and other sources of CO generation is needed especially in winter and residential places without suitable ventilation.