Sabzevar PERSIAN Cohort Study: First Northeastern Iran NCD Profile

02 Apr 20264 min read0 viewsJournal Feed

GIST (Key Takeaways)

The Sabzevar PERSIAN Cohort Study (SPECS) is the first northeastern Iran cohort within the national PERSIAN framework, established to examine environmental and social determinants of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with a regional focus. Between January 2018 and January 2019, SPECS enrolled 5,174 adults aged 35–70 years, using census and online registration, with baseline data collection including demographic verification, informed consent, health questionnaires, anthropometrics, and biological samples (blood, urine, hair, nails).
Annual follow-up commenced April 2019, with full reassessments planned every five years over a 15-year period, employing active and passive follow-up supported by trained staff and registry linkages. To date, 4,241 participants (81%) remained; the cohort is 54.5% female, mean age 50.5 years, with high marriage prevalence (93.5%) and about 46.5% having at least high-school education.
Reported risk factors include drug or tobacco use in roughly 15%. Common conditions observed were hypertension (22.8%), kidney stones (22.4%), fatty liver (15.4%), and diabetes (13.8%).
All health data are self-reported. The study plans a 15-year follow-up to elucidate region-specific NCD incidence and risk factors, noting the ethnically homogeneous sample and potential biases from self-reporting.