title: Pars cohort study of non-communicable diseases in Iran: protocol and preliminary results.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The pars cohort study (PCS) is a 10-year cohort study aiming to investigate the burden and the major risk factors of non-communicable diseases, and to establish a setting to launch interventions for prevention of these diseases and controlling their risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  All inhabitants of Valashahr district in South of Iran, aged 40-75 years, were invited to undergo interviews and physical examination, and to provide biological samples. A total of 9264 invitees accepted to participate in the study (95 % participation rate) and were recruited from 2012 to 2014. Active follow-up was also carried out after 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 46 % of participants were male and 54 % were female. About 14.0 % of the participants were current smokers and 8.4 % were ever opium users. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were 37.3 and 18.2 %, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was 26.9 %. A total of 49 participants died during a median follow-up of one year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PCS with its large scale and wealth of socio-economic and medical data can be a unique platform for studying the etiology of non-communicable diseases and effective interventions in Iran.
authors.affiliation: Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gandomkar
authors.affiliation: Liver, Pancreatic, and Biliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poustchi
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterohepatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moini
authors.affiliation: Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moghadami
authors.affiliation: Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imanieh
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterohepatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Fattahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyyed Mohammad Taghi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ayatollahi
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Mahdi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Sagheb
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anushiravani
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Roozbeh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mortazavi
authors.affiliation: Digestive Disease Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sadaf Ghajarieh
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Sepanlou
authors.affiliation: Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. malek@ams.ac.ir.|Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. malek@ams.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000073296:Noncommunicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D000074607:Opium Dependence / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Cohort studies; Epidemiology; Iran; Non-communicable diseases; Risk factors