Backgrond & Objective: In recent years, malaria has been a serious problem in Parsabad (a north-western town in Iran). A lot of health-care funding has been allocated to malaria campaign program in this area. The objective of this study was to investigate clinical epidemiology of malaria during 1999-2000.

 Methods: The data collected through epidemiology forms filled for 509 malaria positive cases during 1999- 2000 was analyzed by EPI2000 software. Frequency tables, X² test and one way ANOVA were used in this analysis.

 Results: All 509 Malaria cases diagnosed were P vivax. They belonged to the first seven-month of the year. 69.4% of malaria cases were related to the year 2000 and the others were related to 1999. The most frequent symptoms were chills in 488 cases (95.9%) and fever in 481 of them (94.5%). Sweating was found only in 3.9% of the reported cases. Mean age and standard deviation of patients was 22.9 + 15.6. There was no significant difference between men and women in terms of the distribution of fever and chills.

 Conclusions: The high prevalence of fever and chills was compatible with the findings of previous studies. If one of the two symptoms is positive in the residents of this area or those people traveling there, malaria should be suspected.

 Background & Objective: In order to avoid amblyopia, the welfare organization of Iran performs a special program every year. Since there was no research regarding the mistake rates made by the educators, this study was conducted to determine the probable differences between educators and optometrists in terms of their mistakes in examining amblyopia. The study aimed also at decreasing the amount of this difference and programming for the better performance of amblyopia examination in the future.

 Methods: This study was performed on 260 children in 22 nursery schools of Ardabil using systematic sampling method. These children were first examined by the educators and after some time they were examined for a second time by optometrists using retinoscopy and the fingertip. The data was collected using a questionnaire filled out by both the educators and the optometrists. This data was then analyzed by X² tests and ANOVA using SPSS program.

 Results: 51.2% of the subjects were male and the rest of them (48.8%) were female. 63.5% of the nursery schools (day- care centers) were private and the others were run by the ministry of education. 13.8% of the subjects used eye glasses and 8.1% were under the control of a physician. 36.4% of the centers did not observe the standard interval. 18.8% of the educators were not skillful enough. 17.7% of the children suffered from astigmatism and 5.3% of them had a weak eyesight. Because of these factors, there was a 17.7% difference between the examination of educators and that of the optometrists.

 Conclusions: It seems necessary for the authorities to have better and more careful programs in the future for examining amblyopia.

 Background & Objective: The prevalence of pediculosis in communities is one of the criteria for individual hygiene and one of the important diseases among students. Pediculosis capitis is very important in boarding schools. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of pediculosis capitis and relative factors among boarding school students.

 Methods: This study with a descriptive, analytic and cross - sectional method was performed upon 417 girl students from Ardabil boarding schools who were selected using systematic method. Pediculosis was diagnosed through direct observation by trained general practitioners. The data were collected using questionnaire and were analyzed by EPI 2000 and SPSS10.

 Results: 116 students (27.8%) complained about itching of scalp.41.2% of the students never took a shower in school and only 45.2% of them took a bath in school once a week or more. 74.3% of the students said that there was a bathroom in their school and about the accessibility of these bathrooms, 53 students (12.7%) had previous involvement with head lice. 21 cases (5%) had previous treatment of pediculosis capitis. 119 of the students (28.5%) suffered from head lice. There was a significant relationship among suffering from head lice and previous illness and existence of bath in home. No significant relationship was observed among this disease and sharing devices such as comb or head scarf in school or home. Prevalence of the disease among rural students was more common than urban ones.�

 Conclusions: some boarding school in Ardabil did not have enough hygienic facilities and the students of these schools were mostly from rural areas.

 Background & Objective: Tuberculosis is a diseases which is severely threatening the individuals health and is spreading quickly. Moreover, the appearance of new strains resistant to drugs has complicated the issue. Since there is no information available regarding the present drug-resistance situation of patients suffering from tuberculosis in Mashhad, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of this resistance in this city.

 Methods: To determine prevalence of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in Mashhad, drug sensitivity of 75 M. tuberculosis strains isolated from patients with pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis from 20 Feb. 2002 to 20 Aug. 2002 was studied using the indirect proportion method. Every strain was tested against Rifampicin (RMP), Isoniazid (INH), Ethambutol (ETM), and Streptomycin (STM). Medical records of the patients were reviewed. Patients with no or less than 1 month treatment were defined as new cases and those previously treated for more than 1 month were defined as previously treated cases.

 Results: Of 75 isolates, 70(93.33%) were from new and 5(6.66%) from previously treated cases. 68 patients (90.66%) were suffering from pulmonary and 7(9.33%) from extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. Of 75 isolates, 23(36%) were resistant to at least one anti-tuberculosis drug. The highest rate of resistance was observed to streptomycin. Three of the 75 strains (4%) were resistant to all four drugs. 1.43% and 40% of strains isolated from newly and previously treated patients respectively were multidrug resistant.

 Conclusions: In this study new cases with MDR-TB were less prevalent compared to other studies. Most drug resistance and MDR-TB were associated with previous treatment. Continual evaluation of drug resistance following DOTS implementation seems to be necessary.

 Background & Objective: World health organization (WHO) has paid a special attention to the reproduction health, which plays a crucial role in women health care and its promotion. The purpose of this study is to determine reproductive factors among Ashayer women in Ardabil province.

 Methods: Part of the plan entitled Investigating health and disease among Ashayer in Ardabil which was conducted in 2003 aimed at determining the reproduction indices using a structured questionnaire. The present research was a cross-sectional study in which the data regarding the reproductive status of the Ashayer women were extracted, collected and analyzed using SPSS software and descriptive statistics.

 Results: 268 women at the age of 10-49 completed the questionnaire. Mean age of marriage among women was 18.2, 8.6% of them had a history of stillbirth, 18.1% abortion and 38.19% unwanted pregnancy. 31.4% of the subjects did not have any reproductive health care, and 67.6% of those who did so were taken care less than four times.

 Conclusion: Improvement of reproductive indices among these women requires proper health care programs in order to enhance family planning services as well as reproductive health. This can prevent future outcomes such as unwanted pregnancy and other related complications.

 Background & Objective: The nationwide amblyopia prevention program is performed by prevention deputy of welfare organization every year. In this analytic report practical results of screening program in 1998-2001 were presented and compared with similar findings in other countries. The results were also compared with the findings of previous similar researches in Iran.

  Methods : The amblyopia screening program was performed on all 3-65 year-old children in day-care centers as well as those referring to the visual acuity measuring centers. The first examination was accomplished by trainers. In the second step doubtful cases were referred to optometrist by trainers and amblyopia was diagnosed by an optometrist and confirmed by an eye specialist after excluding organic causes.

 Results: 608 out of 8427(7.21%) children examined by trainers in 2001 were referred to an optometrist because of suspected visual disorders. The prevalence of amblyopia in different cities of Ardabil province was 2%-15%. The figures in 2000-2001 were 10% (Rangs=1%-13%), respectively. In 1998 it was 11% (Range =5%-13%). In the second phase of amblyopia plan the prevalence of visual problems was estimated about 21%, 45%, 47%, and 74% in 1998-2001, respectively. In the third phase of the plan the amblyopia prevalence for children examined by eye-specialist in 1999-2001 were 1.6%, 1.41% and 1.25% respectively.

 Conclusions: In this research the prevalence of amblyopia was found to be 1.42% which has a conformity with the findings of other countries. Moreover, the higher variation in the estimation of the prevalence of visual disorders in this province requires further comparative researches.

 Background& Objective: Animal bites are considered to be an important threat to human health. Ardabil province in north-western Iran has the highest incidence rate of animal bites in Iran. This study was an attempt to investigate the epidemiological features of animal bites in Ardabil province during a one-year period from April 1999 to April 2000.

 Methods: In this descriptive study a special questionnaire was filled for all cases of animal bites reported during a one year period in Ardabil province. The questionnaire included questions regarding rabies, age, sex, job, etc. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (release 9). Descriptive statistics was used in the form of frequency tables and graph in order to summarize the data.

 Results: The total number of exposed persons to animal bites were 4331. Males comprised 75% of cases (3259) and 1072 persons (25%) were females. The highest incidence rate was seen among 30-50 year-olds. Animal bites were more common in summer. In 3078 cases (17%), legs were the main site of bite. Dog bite was the most common type (95%).

 Conclusions: This study confirms that animal bite such as dog bite is an important public health problem in Ardabil province. Regarding the importance of this issue it is necessary to take serious measures in order to control and prevent this health thereat.

  Background & Objective :Depression is one of the most common disorders which can affect every individual. However some individuals (including the students of medical sciences) who are involved in health issues are more vulnerable in this regard. The early diagnosis of this disorder among the students can lead to primary prevention and avoid any further progression and deteriration. This in turn can result in mental health among these students as well as the society. The present study set out to investigate the rate of depression among the students of Ardabil university of medical sciences.

  Methods : This research is an analytic-descriptive study conducted on 324 students from Ardabil University of Medical Scinces. A questionnaire including two sections was used to collect the data. The first section was about the demographic information and the second section included questions about depression based on Beck depression test. The data were analyzed by SPSS soft waire using descriptive and analytical statistics.

  Results : The results showed that 57.4% of total subjects (186 students) suffered from various degrees of depression. 128 of these students were suffering from clinical depression. The prevalence of depression among midwifery students was 21.4 %. Chi- square test showed a significant relationship among prevalence of depression in these students with their educational semester , the number of their siblings, any kind of major physical disorder in the subject or, a serious psychological problem among their family members , as well as any significant event during the previous year.

  Conclusions : According to obtained results there was a high degree of depression among medical university students and serious measures should be taken in the future in order to prevent this social concern.

 Background & Objective: Ardabil province is the main area of Iran affected by relapsing fever (RF) for which Borrelia Persica is the most common cause. The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of the disease, and the frequency of infection among ticks in this region in order to take necessary measures to decrease it is incidence and increase awareness about the characteristics of this disease.

 Method: In this study a total of 391 patients who were diagnosed to have been effected by tick borne relapsing fever were investigatated in terms of clinical epidemiology between 1998 and 2001. The kind of Borrelia as well as the clinical characteristics of the disease were observed. The kind and prevalence of Borrelia infection was determined in 1,421 ticks collected from 130 indoor and 14 outdoor sites. The ticks were crushed and the suspension obtained was injected into the peritoneum of two mice and two guinea pigs to determine the frequency of infection among the ticks living in this region. Data including the tick species determination were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using Chi-square and ANOVA tests.

 Results: The most prevalent clinical manifestations were fever, chills and headache. Other findings included nausea, vomiting, sweating, abdominal pain, arthralgia, cough, photophobia, eosinophilia, hematuria, jaundice, petechiae and sclera congestion. Laboratory tests performed on 60 patients showed leukocytosis, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and anemia. Of the 1,421 ticks collected, 45.9%, 40.3% and 13.8% were infected by Ornithodoros lahorensis Ornithodoros tholozani and Argas persicus species, respectively. The prevalence of ticks was highest in Khanadabil village. The ticks collected from three villages were found to be infected with Borrelia.

 Conclusions: The clinical manifestations were similar to those reported in other studies. Petechiae occurred less frequently in our study compared to louse-borne RF. The high frequency of anemia in this region, which was not stated in other reference articles, requires further investigation.

  Background & Objectives: Cesarean section is one of the most common surgeries in women. In developed countries the rate of cesarean section is reported to be 21.2%. In Iran, the rate of cesarean section is even higher than the international norms. In a study in Ardabil, in 2001, cesarean section rate came out to be 42.86%. Postoperative pain after cesarean is one of the complications that all mothers experience in one-way or another. Besides bothering mother it can disorder newborn feeding, ambulation of mother and bonding between newborn and mother if it is not controlled effectively. This study was conducted to compare the effect of intramuscular Methadone and Diclofenac suppository for pain relief after cesarean section in Alavi hospital, Ardabil.

  Methods: This study was a double blind clinical trial. 56 women who experienced cesarean section for the first time were randomly divided into two groups. Diclofenac suppository (100 mg every 8hr) was given to first group and Methadone (5 mg every 8hr) was injected to the second group for 24 hours. Then, the severity of pain was measured with numerical scoring in serial postoperative visits. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive and analytical statistics such as chi-square and ANOVA.

  Results: The findings indicated that the severity of pain in 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th postoperative visits was significantly lower in patients who received Diclofenac suppositories than the other group (p<0.05). But overall, there was no statistically significant difference between the pain severity in Methadone receiving group (Mean & SD= 5.85 ± 3.5) and Diclofenac receiving group (Mean & SD= 6.46 ± 2.9).

  Conclusion: There was no significant difference between Diclofenac suppository and Methadone in terms of decreasing the postoperative pain after cesarean section. However, regarding the restrictions in the use of opioids, Diclofenac can be a suitable replacement for these drugs.

  Background and objectives: Establishing centers to stop addiction in our country is one of the measures taken to confront this problem. Unfortunately, it has been shown that about 80% of the addicted people who refer to these centers relapse. The present study set out to investigate the possible causes of this problem.

  Methods: This is a case control study in which a questionnaire was used to collect the required data. The subjects were all addicted people who referred to Shahid Mellat Doust and Shahid Family treatment centers in 2000. The criterions for entering the study in case group were the last record of the addicted person ’ s abandonment in Tehran ’ s welfare center ( based on the patients ’ records) and using narcotics at the present time. The control group subjects, on the other hand, had abandoned using narcotics at least four months before and had never used any substance so far.

  Results: The mean age for case group was 35.99 and that of the control group was 35.09. Regarding the age distribution 98.59% of the case group and 100% of the control group were men. 88.7% of the case group and 97.2% of the control group were urban residents. Considering the job, 40.8% of the case group and 19.4% of the control group were unemployed. 52.1% of the case group and 61.6% of control group were living with their spouses. Opium was the most commoly used narcotics in both groups. In studying the relationship between the variables under study through logistic regression the job was not a main factor in the relapse. The duration of time being away from addiction had a deductive effect on the relapse, and this effect was statistically meaningful (p=0.001). Adding one month ’ s time to the period of being clear (not using the narcotics) caused 98% deduction in returning to narcotics.

  Conclusion: Because 80% of the patients who referred to the related centers began using narcotics again during the first 6 months after abandoning, it is necessary to improve the preventive measures to help the patients pass this critical period.

  Background & Objectives: In modern civilization, community participation is considered to be the most important way of development in different parts of the society. Establishing social development and health promotion centers (SDHPC) is the first step which is taken in this regard. In these centers, social development is implemented along with health promotion. During some planned activities people practice participation and having sense of responsibility while they move towards development and health. They understand that the key for solving majority of health problems are in their own hands.

  Methods: In the framework of an action research, interventions based on dynamic, reevaluation activities, were done in two parts: Formation of activity committees and establishment of population laboratory. SDPHC set its programs based on a planned approach to community health and community mobilization was the first practical action in this plan.

  Aiming at presentation and evaluation of community mobilization model, different activities consisting of mobilization of heath volunteers, raising participation of regional stake holders, recognizing social literature to ensure effective and pervasive communication with people, propagation and call for participation along with general enumeration of society was done to find authoritative people.

  Results: Health volunteers helped to recognize 60 key persons. 53 of them accepted participation. Objectives of the center were explained to them in three meetings, and their opinions were collected. A study of community literature showed that this region had a moderate to high cultural behaviors, and moderate to low income level and education with suitable interest in participation. The Evaluation of provincial broadcasting organization, municipality and other organizations was not desirable except for education organization. Publishing a newsletter was not welcomed by people but it created a bright perspective among governmental authorities. 287 persons accepted invitations voluntarily and took membership. After regional census, it was found that 4355 households with a total population of 19652 were living in this region 9305 (48%) of whom were females. Mean age of population was 26 and mean household dimension was 4.5. 8352 persons (42%) were married. Majority of women were house wives and majority of men had self managed job.

  Conclusion : The process of community mobilization in this project was evaluated to be successful but for establishment and continuation of activities in SDHPC most of the organizations and different groups of people should be encouraged to participate.

 Background & Objectives: The unsatisfied demands of employees can present itself in different forms such as lower output, efficacy, effectiveness and aborted objectives of the organization. Periodic evaluation and investigation of the demands of staff can increase satisfaction and motivation among them.

 Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study stratified systematic sampling was used for selecting the employees both with and without academic education. The total sample size was 615. The data were collected by means of a two-section questionnaire and analyzed by EPI Info 2002 and SPSS (ver.11) statistical packages.

 Results: 23.2% the staff members were not satisfied with their job. 26.9% of those bearing an academic cerrtificate were not happy with their field of study. 63% of the personnel were not satisfied with the health authorities’ attitude towards their welfare state. There was a 51% dissatisfaction regarding the concern about the issues related to the staff. There was also a 44.2% of dissatisfaction among the staff members about the performance of the related deputies. 35.9% of the personnel were not satisfied with their manager about paying attention to their problems. The staff requirements were graded as follows: self-actualization, respectability, social belonging, security and physiologic needs. There was a reverse relation between the personnel satisfaction and level of management. The findings indicated that the staff were more satisfied with their direct manager (64%) compared with university administrations (49%). There was a significant relation between the personnel satisfaction and their level of education (p<0.05). The relation between satisfaction with organization performance and sex was not statistically significant. The findings indicated a significant relation between type of education and different levels of personnel’s needs. The relationship between satisfaction and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was investigated using Chi-square test, which indicated a statistically significant relationship only between group D needs and job satisfaction (p<0.05).

 Conclusion: Staff satisfaction with university administrations of Ardabil university of medical sciences and health services was low. Moreover, the self-actualization and self-esteem needs were of high priority among the employees.

  Background & Objectives: Respiatory Distress Synderome (RDS) is one of the major risks of elective cesarian section whose negative health and econemical outcomes are obvious. Maternal prophylactic injection of corticosteroid drugs can reduce RDS of neonate to some extent. On the other hand corticosteroid drugs have some side effects such as delay in the healing of the incision. This study considered the effect of betamethasone on surgical incision.

  Methods: This study was conducted on 60 primipara women divied into two equal groups that were candidate for elective cesarean. We injected betamethasone (IM) to trial group twice 48 hours poior to operation, (every 24 hours) and complication of surgical incision was clinically evaluated within 7 days after operation in both groups. The data were collected and analyzed by SPSS software chi-square and Fisher tests.

  Results: Most patients (60%) were 20-30 years old and the average age in both groups was 21. The relative frequency of patients with complication of surgical incision in trial group (betamethasone recipients) was 30% and in control group was 23.33% (the difference between them was not statistically significant). The most common complications were erythema and hyperemia. Other complications observed in 15% of the patients included serousal discharge, local warmness and enduration. Rgarding these complications also there wasn’t a statistically significant difference between two groups.

  Conclusion: Betamethasone does not increase early onest complications of surgical incision and we can safely use betamethasone prophylactically for fetal maturion in elective cesareans.

 Bakcground & Objectives: A psychiatric disorder is an illness with psychogical or behavioral manifestations accompanied with impaired functioning. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders is reported up to 30% in some communities. Regarding the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the society especially the high number of people referring to psychiatric commissions where some cases malinger with the aim of getting some secondary advantages, it seems necessary to have comprehensive information about the prevalence of these disorders. This study was an attempt to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among people to psychiatric commission of Fatemi hospital, Ardabil.

 Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on people referring to psychiatry commission of Fatemi hospital from 2001 until 2003. A questionnaire filled through interviewing the subjects was used to collect the data. These data were analyzed by SPSS using descriptive statistics.

 Results: In this research out of 315 patients, the highest frequency related to mental retards with 68 (25.3%) cases. 60 (22.3%) cases had behavioral disorder, 27 (10%) stammering 26 (9.7%) personality disorders, 25 (9.3%) anxity disorders, 20 (7.4% schizophrenia, 11 (4.1%) somatoform disorder, 10 (3.7%) borderline IQ, 8 (2.9%) nevrosis, 6 (2.2%) histertic disorder, 4 (1.4%) sleep disorders and 3 (1.1%) acute psychosis. Also, 28 (8%) people referred for getting exemption from military service only 6 (21%) of whom had the qualifications for exemption. Moreover, 17 (5.3% of all the subjects were disabled.

 Conclusions: No significant relationship was found between age, sex, education, residence and job with psychiatric disorders. However, there was a significant relationship between marital status and disablement with psychiatric disorders. The most common causes of referring to the psychiatry commission were mental retardness and histery whereas sleep disorders and psychosis were the least important ones.

  Background & Objectives: Ardabil city with population of about 340386 is still supplied with groundwater resource for drinking. That should have optimum quality standards in different aspects. If a drinking water physicochemical parameters levels is higher than the permitted recommended levels, they may create irreversible damages. This study intended to determine the physicochemical parameters of drinking water in Ardabil in the year 2004.

  Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that has been done on 35 samples of Ardabil city drinking water resources in 2004. Most of the physicochemical parameters due to their importance and present limitations or even through technical restriction in water and wastewater laboratory of Ardabil health care centers were chemically analyzed and the results were statistically analyzed and compared by 1053 country standard methods.

  Results: According to the results of analyzed samples and their comparison with their related standard, it is estimated that So₄, Po₄ and total hardness of samples were %9, %71 & %41 respectively more than maximum acceptable level. Fluorine of samples was %57 less than the minimum recommended fluorine.

  Conclusion: Due to the lack of consistency in the values of So₄, Po₄, fluorine and total hardness of testing samples with the related standards, programming for obviation of the problems seems essential.

  Background and Objectives: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a nosocomial pathogen that presents high antibiotic resistance.There are phenotyping and genotyping methods for epidemiologic study of Pseudomonas aeruginosa such as antibiotic resistance pattern and plasmid profile analysis. Plasmid analysis provides useful information concerning the source of the strains and number of clones present in the epidemies. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate antibiotic and plasmid profiles of P. aeruginosa strains isolated from in-patients of the Sina Medical Centre of Tabriz to clarify epidemyological correlation among isolated strains.

  Methods: During 13 months, 135 strains of P. aeruginosa were isolated from different infections in hospitalized patients at Sina Medical Center of Tabriz. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed using disc agar diffusion test. For plasmid DNA extraction and detection of open circular bands from supercoiled ones, modified alkaline lysis procedure and two dimensional electrophoresis were used, respectively. Enzymatic digestion of plasmids was carried out by EcoRI and HincII restriction enzymes.

  Results: Resistance rates of strains against antibacterial agents were recorded as: Aztreonam (77%), colistin (74%), ceftazidime (69%), pipracillin (67%), ofloxacin (62%), tobramycin (56%), carbenicillin (54%), gentamicin (51%), ciprofloxacin (22%), amikacin (15%), polymixin B (13%) and imipenem (2%). Plasmid profiles of our test strains revealed that only 67 strains harbored plasmid(s). Number of isolated plasmids ranged 1-6 in each strain with molecular mass of 0.5kb-21kb. When the isolated plasmids were digested using restriction endonuclease enzymes (EcoRI and HincII), in 32% of them similar digestion profiles were obtained by EcoRI indicating a unique source for them.

  Conclusion : Our findings suggest high antibiotic resistance and plasmid presence in P. aeruginosa strains isolated from different infections, and there were remarkable similarities among isolated plasmids. Since our test strains had been isolated from various wards in a short period of time, the results raise the possibility of unique source for some strains or high prevalence of genetic exchange among P. aeruginosa strains.

  Background & Objectives: Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) syndrome is one of the most prevalent abnormalities of mitral valve that arises from pathologic changes of the various parts of mitral valve. MVP may lead to ECG changes, like T wave inversion in inferior leads and atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, in some people that may be misdiagnosed as myocardial ischemia.

  Methods: This was an analytical (case-control) study in 50 cases with MVP with age below 30 years who had referred to the Ardabil Bouali Hospital and some private cardiology clinics. The diagnosis of MVP was based on clinical and echocardiographic findings, and after taking history and physical examination, an ECG and an echocardiogram were taken from each person in case and control groups and the acquired information was analyzed via statistical methods of SPSS software.

  Results: From 50 studied cases with MVP, 60% (30 cases) were female and 40% (20 cases) were male, and the most common age range was 21 – 25 years. From these cases, 68% (34 persons) had changes in their ECGs while %32 (16 subjects) did not. In control group, from 50 persons, 44% (22 persons) had ECG changes and 56% (28 persons) did not.

  Conclusion: In general this study showed that increase in ECG changes in MVP group in comparison with control group (p=0.01). In cases with MVP, there was not significant relationship between gender and ECG changes. In comparing case and control groups, there was not significant difference in ECG changes in females, while there was a significant difference in males (14 of 20 versus 6 of 20) w ith considering that ECG changes in persons with MVP may be misdiagnosed as ischemic heart disease,it is recommended that cases (especially men) with MVP always keep a record of their ECGs.