Sareh Eghtesad
1,2*, Zahra Mohammadi
1,2*, Amaneh Shayanrad
2, Elnaz Faramarzi
3, Farahnaz Joukar
4, Behrooz Hamzeh
5, Mojtaba Farjam
6, Mohammad Javad Zare Sakhvidi
7, Mohammadreza Miri-Monjar
8, Mahmood Moosazadeh
9, Hamid Hakimi
10, Salar Rahimi Kazerooni
11, Bahman Cheraghian
12, Ali Ahmadi
13, Azim Nejatizadeh
14, Iraj Mohebbi
15, Farhad Pourfarzi
16, Farzin Roozafzai
2, Nazgol Motamed-Gorji
2, Seyed Ali Montazeri
2, Sahar Masoudi
17, Masoumeh Amin-Esmaeili
18, Navid Danaie
19, Seyed Reza Mirhafez
20, Hasan Hashemi
21, Hossein Poustchi
2*, Reza Malekzadeh
1,17*1 Digestive Disease Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Liver and Pancreatobiliary Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
4 Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases Research Center, Razi Hospital, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
5 Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, School of Public Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
6 Noncommunicable Diseases Research Center, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
7 Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
8 Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
9 Health Sciences Research Center, Addiction Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Science, Sari, Iran
10 Department of Cardiology, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran
11 Department of Epidemiology, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
12 Research Center for Infectious Diseases of Digestive System, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
13 Health Research Center, Shahrekord University Medical of Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
14 Molecular Medicine Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran
15 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, occupational Medicine Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran
16 Digestive Diseases Research Center, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
17 Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
18 Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
19 Semnan Birth Cohort, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
20 Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran
21 Eye Research Center, Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
In the past, communicable diseases caused the highest mortality in Iran. Improvements in socioeconomic status and living
standards including access to safe drinking water, along with the inception of Health Houses in the 1980s, have changed disease
patterns, decreasing the spread of and deaths from infectious and communicable diseases. The incidence and prevalence of
non-communicable diseases (NCD), however, have now increased in Iran, accounting for nearly 80% of deaths and disabilities.
Without interventions, NCD are predicted to impose a substantial human and economic burden in the next 2 decades. However,
Iran’s health system is not equipped with the necessary policies to combat this growth and must refocus and reform. Therefore,
in the year 2013, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education funded a well-designed nationwide cohort study—Prospective
Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN)—in order to assess the burden of NCD and investigate the risk factors
associated with them in the different ethnicities and geographical areas of Iran. The PERSIAN Cohort, which aims to include
200000 participants, has 4 components: Adult (main), Birth, Youth and Elderly, which are being carried out in 22 different regions
of Iran. Having an enormous dataset along with a biobank of blood, urine, hair and nail samples, the PERSIAN Cohort will serve as
an important infrastructure for future implementation research and will provide the evidence needed for new healthcare policies
in order to better control, manage and prevent NCD.