Farshad Farzadfar

Farshad Farzadfar
Tehran University of Medical Sciences | TUMS · Non-communicable Disease Research Center

MD, MPH, MHS, DSc

About

678
Publications
4,374,039
Reads
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172,825
Citations
Additional affiliations
September 2011 - present
Shariati Hospital
Position
  • Head of Faculty
May 2012 - present
Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
Description
  • In NCDRC we are working on several national health projects, includes, NASBOD, STEPs survey, Behvarz Health Study (a cohort NCDs), Telematics ( a project for reducing road traffic incidence), GNET and many other projects.
September 2005 - August 2011
Harvard University
Position
  • Researcher
Education
September 2007 - June 2011
Harvard University
Field of study
  • Global Health and Population
September 2005 - June 2007
Harvard University
Field of study
  • Health Sciences
September 2000 - June 2002
Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Field of study
  • Public Health

Publications

Publications (678)
Article
The associations between serum hemoglobin (Hb) levels and bone mineral density (BMD) were investigated in population of the 4th Iranian Multicenter Osteoporosis Study (IMOS). A positive relationship between Hb levels and BMD at hip and femoral neck were detected only in men. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between hemoglobin (Hb...
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INTRODUCTION: The main objective of this study was to design a conceptual framework, according to the policies and priorities of the ministry of health to evaluate provincial public health and primary care performance and to assess their share in the overall health impacts of the community. METHODS: We used several tools and techniques, including s...
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A family physician program has been implemented in rural areas of the country since the early 2005.Therefore, due to the increase in the density of midwives in this project, it is expected that more services would be provided to pregnant women. This cross-sectional study used the difference-in-differences model and Matchit statistical model to comp...
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Skeletal muscle relies on resident muscle stem cells (MuSCs) for growth and repair. Aging and muscle diseases impair MuSC function, leading to stem cell exhaustion and regenerative decline that contribute to the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. In the absence of clinically available nutritional solutions specifically targeting...
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Background Adequate dietary consumption of calcium is crucial in the preservation of bone health and the prevention of osteoporosis. This study investigated the prevalence of insufficient dietary calcium intake among individuals aged ≥50 years in Iran. Methods We analyzed data from the Iranian Multicenter Osteoporosis Study (IMOS-2021). Participan...
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People with hypertension are more susceptible to developing cardiometabolic risk factors including overweight, obesity, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome (MetS). We aim to determine the trends in the prevalence of these risk factors among Iranian adults with hypertension from 2007 to 2021. We utilized data for adults from 25 t...
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Background Cancer is a pressing global health concern, making effective cancer control planning crucial. This is emphasized by the objectives in target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals and the CanScreen 5 project from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive overview...
Article
Substance use carries a wide range of negative consequences, impacting both the individual using the substances and others. In recent years, there have been multiple efforts to assess the harm caused by drugs and to rank them, with each taking a distinctive approach to the matter. Objectives: This study seeks to introduce a new model for assessing...
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Alcohol production and consumption have been prohibited in Iran for over four decades, leading to a typical underestimation of its consumption. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of alcohol consumption, its associated factors, and estimate per capita alcohol consumption among Iran’s adult population. In this population-based survey, 27,874 a...
Article
Background: Infective endocarditis (IE), a severe and economically impactful condition, lacks substantial epidemiological data in the North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region. This study focused on analyzing the trends and burden of IE in NAME from 1990 to 2019, taking into account factors like age, gender, and socio-demographic index (SDI). Me...
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Background: Infective endocarditis (IE), a severe and economically impactful condition, lacks substantial epidemiological data in the North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region. This study focused on analyzing the trends and burden of IE in NAME from 1990 to 2019, taking into account factors like age, gender, and socio-demographic index (SDI). Meth...
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This study aimed to investigate the estimated burden attributed to lead exposure (LE), at the national and subnational levels from 1990 to 2019 in Iran. The burden attributed to LE was determined through the estimation of deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs) using the compa...
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Abstract Background: This study presents estimates for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) burden and attributable risk factors in Iran from 1990–2019, using data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study. Methods: This study reports prevalence, incidence, death, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLLs), and years lived wi...
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Background: Menopause as an important health issue needs special attention and planning to provide extensive services and interventional programs to manage the complications and adverse health consequences. Benefiting from a national and sub-national representative sample, the present study aimed to estimate the distribution of age of menopause and...
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This study aims to investigate the trends and project the major risk factors of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Iran. We obtained the trend of prevalence of main risk factors related to NCDs in 30 to 70-year-old-individuals. The data were extracted from WHO STEP wise approach to NCDs risk factor surveillance (STEPS) survey. Also,the previous st...
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Background Obesity and dyslipidemia are important risk factors for hypertension (HTN). When these two conditions coexist, they may interact in a synergistic manner and increase the risk of developing HTN and its associated complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the synergistic effect of general and central obesity with dyslipidemia...
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The prevalence of multiple age-related cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is high among individuals living in low- and middle-income countries. We described receipt of healthcare services for and management of hypertension and diabetes among individuals living with these conditions using individual-level data from 55 nationally representativ...
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Mitochondrial dysfunction and low nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) levels are hallmarks of skeletal muscle ageing and sarcopenia1,2,3, but it is unclear whether these defects result from local changes or can be mediated by systemic or dietary cues. Here we report a functional link between circulating levels of the natural alkaloid trigonell...
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Summary Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data...
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The utilization of explainable machine learning models has emerged as a key technique for predicting and interpreting various aspects of road traffic accidents (RTAs) in recent years. This study aimed to predict the occurrence of errors in road accident hotspots and interpret the most influential predictors using telematics data. Data from 1673 int...
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Improving hypertension control in low- and middle-income countries has uncertain implications across socioeconomic groups. In this study, we simulated improvements in the hypertension care cascade and evaluated the distributional benefits across wealth quintiles in 44 low- and middle-income countries using individual-level data from nationally repr...
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Background and objective Cervical cancer is the most preventable and ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer. However, in the world, there are disparities in health care performances resulting in differences in the burden of these cancers. The objective of this study was to compare the health-system quality of care and inequities for...
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Utilizing a novel microsimulation approach, this study evaluates the impact of fixed and average point-to-point Speed Enforcement Cameras (SEC) on driving safety. Using the SUMO software, agent-based models for a 6-km highway without exits or obstacles were created. Telematics data from 93,160 trips were used to determine the desired free-flow spee...
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Background Oral disorders are still a major global public health challenge, considering their perpetuating and chronic nature. Currently, there is no direct index to measure the quality of care on a population scale. Hence, we aim to propose a new index to measure the quality of care for oral disorders worldwide. Methods We generated our database...
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High salt intake is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases, resulting in numerous deaths and disability-adjusted life-years worldwide. The study aimed to analyze data from a 2021 nationwide survey of 25,202 Iranian adults, investigating daily salt intake. Participants were randomly chosen by a systematic proportional size cluster samplin...
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Background Hypertension (HTN) is rising worldwide. Accurate information about its prevalence, diagnosis, coverage, and control is essential for policymakers to implement effective strategies. Method Data were gathered from the nationally representative Iran STEPs 2021 study. ANOVA- test and chi-square were used to compare the prevalence, diagnosis...
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Background The prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in the North Africa and Middle East region is alarmingly high, prompting us to investigate the burden and factors contributing to it through the GBD study. Additionally, there is a lack of knowledge about the epidemiological status of T2DM in this region, so our aim is to provide a compre...
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Background: Kidney cancer is a prevalent cancer worldwide. The incidence and mortality rates of Kidney Cancer (KC) have risen in recent decades. The quality of care provided to KC patients is a Concern for public health. Considering the importance of KC, in this study, we aim to assess the burden Of the disease, gender and age disparities globally,...
Article
As a part of STEPwise approach to risk factor Surveillance (STEPS) study, our aim was to evaluate the validity of the self-reported diagnosis of diabetes (DM), hypertension (HTN), and hypercholesterolemia (Hyper-Chol) in the Iranian population. Using systematic proportional to size cluster sampling, 27,232 participants were included in our study. W...
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Background Diabetes frequently results in the need for multiple medication therapies, known as ‘Polypharmacy’. This situation can incur significant costs and increase the likelihood of medication errors. This study evaluated the prescriptions of patients with diabetes regarding polypharmacy to assess its effect on the control of hemoglobin A1c (HbA...
Article
Regarding the rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity throughout the globe, it remains a serious public health concern. A subgroup of obesity that does not meet metabolic syndrome criteria is called metabolically healthy obesity (MHO). However, whether the MHO phenotype increases cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is controversial. This study aimed...
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Alcohol production and consumption have been prohibited in Iran for over four decades, leading to a typical underestimation of its consumption. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of alcohol consumption, its associated factors, and estimate per capita alcohol consumption among Iran's adult population. In this population-based survey, 27,874 a...
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Full-text available
Introduction We evaluate which screening and diagnostic approach resulted in the greatest reduction in adverse pregnancy outcomes due to increased treatment. Research design and methods This study presents a secondary analysis of a randomized community non-inferiority trial conducted among pregnant women participating in the GULF Study in Iran. A...
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The aim of this study is to investigate drug use disorders which are a major cause of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). This article is a part of the global burden of diseases (GBD), injuries, and risk factors 2019 study. The GBD modeling approach was used to estimate population-level prevalence of dr...
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Background The study aimed to estimate the attributable burden to kidney dysfunction as a metabolic risk factor in the North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region and its 21 countries in 1990-2019. Methods The data used in this study were obtained from the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) 2019 study, which provided estimated measures of deaths, disa...
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Background North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region has one of the highest burdens of ischemic heart disease (IHD) worldwide. This study reports the contemporary epidemiology of IHD in NAME. Methods and Results We estimated the incidence, prevalence, deaths, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), disability‐adjusted life...
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Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are both used to diagnose diabetes, but these measurements can identify different people as having diabetes. We used data from 117 population-based studies and quantified, in different world regions, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, and whether those who were previously undiagnosed and de...
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BACKGROUND: Despite the substantial burden of IHD in North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region, temporal trends of the burden of IHD were not systematically evaluated in this region and its countries previously. Methods: We reported deaths, premature mortality, YLLs, YLDs, and DALYs of IHD in NAME region and its 21 countries during 1990-2019 using...
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Objective To examine trends in intake of key food groups among Iranian adults between 2005 and 2016, overall, and according to socio-demographic characteristics. Design Repeat cross-sectional data from the Iran-STEPwise approach to risk factor surveillance (Iran-WHO STEPS) 2005-2016 were analyzed. Regression analyses were used to evaluate trends i...
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Background Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) are at a higher risk of polypharmacy and more susceptible to irrational prescriptions; therefore, pharmacological therapy patterns are important to be monitored. The primary objective of this study was to highlight current prescription patterns in T2DM patients and compare them with existing...
Article
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a prominent health care issue worldwide. One of the most prevalent comorbidities of DM is cardiovascular disease (CVD). The objective of this study was to assess the utilization patterns of cardiovascular medications in patients with DM in Iran from 2013 to 2017. This retrospective cross-sectional study was undertaken usin...
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Background The global burden of diabetes is rising rapidly, yet there is little evidence on individual-level diabetes prevention activities undertaken by health systems in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Here we describe the population at high risk of developing diabetes, estimate diabetes prevention activities, and explore sociodem...
Article
Background The updated epidemiology of injuries at the national and sub-national levels are required for policymakers to effectively handle the burden of injuries. This paper aimed to assess the incidence and risk factors of different injuries in Iran based on a recent national survey. Methods We used data from Iran Stepwise approach to surveillan...
Article
The prevalence of overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity is increasing worldwide, accompanied by an increase in the incidence of non-communicable diseases. This study aims to determine the trends of Body Mass Index (BMI) and prevalence of overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity changes in Iranian adult population from 2004 to 2021. We conducted...
Article
Diabetes as the leading cause of mortality and morbidity, have been increased by about 35% from 2011 to 2015 worldwide. The objective of this study was to assess the trend and pattern of diabetes and prediabetes prevalence in Iran and also evaluate the diagnosis and status of diabetes management. The results of this study are extracted from the Nat...
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Abstract The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of lipid abnormalities in Iranian adults by demographic characterization, geographical distribution, and associated risk factors using national and sub-national representative samples of the STEPs 2021 survey in Iran. In this population-based household survey, a total of 18,119 individuals aged ov...
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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the most important environmental pollutants. Urinary concentrations of 1-hydropyren metabolites of PAHs have been used as biomarkers of these chemicals’ exposure in humans. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 468 healthy Iranian adults over 25 years old and non-smokers in six provinces who...
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Background Contextual risk factors such as social capital have a vital role in affecting behavioral and biological risk factors of NCDs. We aimed to systematically identify the relationship between different aspects of social capital (SC) with metabolic, and behavioral risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Methods This is a systematic...
Article
Background: Smoking is a modifiable risk factor for six of the eight leading causes of death. Despite the great burden, there is lack of data regarding the trend of cigarette smoking in Iran. We described the national and provincial prevalence of cigarette smoking and its 12-year time trend utilizing six rounds of Iranian stepwise approach for surv...
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Background Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in developing countries. CVD risk stratification guides the health policy to make evidence-based decisions. Aim To provide current picture and future trend of CVD risk in the adult Iranian population. Methods Nationally representative datasets of 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2...
Article
Importance: Aspirin is an effective and low-cost option for reducing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and improving mortality rates among individuals with established CVD. To guide efforts to mitigate the global CVD burden, there is a need to understand current levels of aspirin use for secondary prevention of CVD. Objective:...
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This study aimed to investigate the diabetes mellitus (DM) and prediabetes epidemiology, care cascade, and compliance with global coverage targets. We recruited the results of the nationally representative Iran STEPS Survey 2021. Diabetes and prediabetes were two main outcomes. Diabetes awareness, treatment coverage, and glycemic control were calcu...
Article
Background and objectives: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) imposes a heavy obscure burden on individuals and health systems. Besides its burden, the quality of care of CKD is less investigated. In this study, we aimed to explore the global, regional, and national trends of CKD burden and quality of care. Design, setting, participants, and measuremen...
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Background Particulate matter (PM) pollution is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, causing substantial disease burden and deaths worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the global burden of cardiovascular diseases attributed to PM from 1990 to 2019. Methods and Results We used the GBD (Global Burden of Disease) study 2019 to...
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Background Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women globally. The North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region is coping hard with the burden of BC. We aimed to present the latest epidemiology of BC and its risk factors in this region. Methods We retrieved the data on BC burden and risk factors from the Global Burden of Disease Study 20...
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Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women globally. The North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region is coping hard with the burden of BC. We aimed to present the latest epidemiology of BC and its risk factors in this region. Methods: We retrieved the data on BC burden and risk factors from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2...
Article
Objective: There are currently no integrated data on the trend of dental caries amongst distinct age groups in Iran. We aimed to assess the national and subnational trend of dental caries of permanent teeth in Iran from 1990 to 2017. Methods: A literature search about dental caries and the decayed-missing-filled teeth index (DMFT) was performed...
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Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women globally. The North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region is coping hard with the burden of BC. We aimed to present the latest epidemiology of BC and its risk factors in this region. Methods: We retrieved the data on BC burden and risk factors from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2...
Article
Speeding behaviour of drivers is highly correlated to their tangible consequence. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of telematics-based feedback and financial incentives in reducing speeding behaviors through a randomized controlled field trial. This randomized controlled trial included four groups of (1) control, (2) inform...
Preprint
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PCR tests for COVID-19 have relatively low sensitivity and only symptomatic cases have been tested. Thus, a population-based seroprevalence study was necessary to determine the extent of missed cases. The objective of this study was to achieve a realistic infection rate in Iran and probe into some explanations behind being infected or not. In this...