Tehran Cohort Study

Tehran Cohort Study is a project of Tehran Heart Center

In Iran, over 80% of all deaths in 2016 were due to non-communicable diseases which show a rapid increase since 2000. Cardiovascular disease, as one of the chronic, non-communicable diseases, were  the leading cause of death worldwide and were responsible for more than 12% of the global disease burden. The burgeoning number of people suffering from CVD in the past years, particularly in developing countries is an alarm for the public health specialists and clinicians to develop preventive measures to control cardiovascular disease.  In high-income countries, the leading cause of disease burden is attributed to CVD. Despite the increase in the burden of CVD, age-adjusted mortality rates of CVD have declined progressively during the recent decades in most high-income countries. This has occurred as a result of both primary and secondary preventive interventions and ongoing health promotion programs as cardiovascular disease is considered a top priority disease to be managed. Although cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality and the most important source of disease burden in developing countries, as well as Iran, investment on prevention and management of this condition is neglected. Therefore, a comprehensive data collection of the current status of the cardiovascular disease and its risk factors as well as their changes through time is necessary.

Globally, accidents and injuries kill almost 5.8 million people every year, which causes 10% of all deaths and 16% of the disability adjusted life years (DALY) lost worldwide. Injury-related disease burden is expected to increase over the next 20 years and road traffic injuries, suicide and falls which are known as 9th, 15th and 21st leading causes of death are respectively estimated to rise to 5th, 12th and 16th cause of death by 2030. About 90% of all injury-related deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, whose limited data collection is hampering planning and implementation of preventive measures. Iran is in the 5th place for road traffic mortality rate globally, and has the highest mortality rate in Eastern Mediterranean region. Accordingly, injuries account for 28% of the DALY lost in Iran. Injury surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of data for planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of preventive measures. The absence of reliable estimations on the scale and pattern of injury morbidity and mortality is a major barrier to successfully implement preventive strategies in many low and middle-income countries, and Iran is not an exception. We are currently in a high need for a reliable data on injuries and trauma in Iran, particularly the capital of the country, Tehran.

Tehran
Heart
Center

Home of Tehran Cohort Study

Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders comprise a substantial proportion of the world’s health problems in every country. To improve the health outcomes of people with mental, neurological, and substance use disorders in both HICs and LMICs, it is important to understand not only the number and distribution of these disorders among countries, but also how they impact on health in terms of both mortality and disability, compared with other diseases and injuries. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder, in general population of Iran seems to be considerable, based on local studies. However, we still lack a broad study on the mental status of the Iranian citizens.

Due to the above mentioned words, the scientists of Tehran University of Medical Sciences decided to run the Tehran Cohort Study on three major health problems in Iran, cardiovascular disease, Trauma and injuries, and mental disorders.

Tehran
Cohort
Study

Steering Committee

Abbasali Karimi, MD
Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, MD
Ahmadali Noorbala, MD
Saeed Sadeghian, MD

Soheil Saadat, MD, PhD
Farshad Alaedini, MD
Nazila Shahmansouri, MD
Arash Jalali, PhD

Recruitment Phase

Director:
Arash Jalali, PhD

Nursing supervisor:
Elham Sanei, MSc

Practitioners:
Akbar Shafiee, MD, MSc
Hamid Ariannejad, MD

First Follow-up Phase

Director:
Mohammad Mohammadi, MD

Nursing supervisor:
Elham Sanei, MSc (2019-2020)
Farah Ayatollahzadeh Esfehani (2021-now)

Practitioners:
Masoumeh Lotfi Tokaldani, MD,PhD
Akbar Shafiee, MD, MSc
Mohammad Mohammadi, MD
Zahra Dehghani, MD
Hamid Ariannejad, MD

Scientific Writing Team

Arash Jalali, PhD
Akbar Shafiee, MD, MSc
Alireza Oraii, MD

Software and Database Development

Recruitment phase:
Mahdi Jalili, MD, PhD

Follow-up phase:
Mahdi Jalili, MD, PhD
Hamid Ariannejad, MD

Web:
Hamid Ariannejad, MD