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Background & Objective: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most important health problems all over the world. This study was conducted to determine the co-infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis D virus (HDV) in HBV infected patients in Golestan province of Iran. Materials & Methods: This population based cross sectional study was done in 2004. 139 HBsAg positive cases were assessed for co-infection with HCV and HDV. Serologic tests were done by ELISA method using available kits. Data were analyzed by SPSS-12 and STATA8 software. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered as significant. Results: Sixty eight (48.9%) of 139 cases were males and 71 (51.1%) were females. The mean (±SD) of participant's age was 41.89 (±11.3) years (range: 25-64 years). Anti-HCV and Anti-HDV antibodies were positive in 17 (12.3%) and 8 (5.8%) cases, respectively. Females were more infected with HCV and HDV than males. But the differences were not significant. Conclusion: The prevalence of co-infection with HCV and HDV in HBV infected cases is relatively high and notable in Golestan province of Iran. Because of negative effects of these co-infections in clinical outcome of the disease, it is recommended to assess possible HCV and HDV infection in individuals with HBV infection. This may result in more efficient management of the disease.

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Background and Objective: Esophageal and gastric cancers are among the most common and fatal cancers. These are diagnosed at the latest phase and the prognosis is too poor. Due to the importance and high incidence rate of the upper gastrointestinal cancers in Golestan province, this study was conducted to explore the overall survival rate of these patients in rural area of this region. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a total of 121 pathologically confirmed esophageal or gastric cancers, with rural place of residence, were retrieved from the cancer registry at the health department in Gorgan. After conducting interview with patients or their relatives, analysis of their sociodemographic and clinicopathologic features was performed. The median survival rate was compared regarding age groups and gender using Kaplan-Meier statistical test. Results: Male to female ratio in esophageal and gastric group were 1.2 to 1 and 3.8 to 1, respectively. Short-term survival rates were 54.76% and 26.2% for esophageal cancer and 66.6% and 37.5% for gastric cancer. Collected information regarding patients’ sociodemographic and clinicophathologic factors did not have significant association with patients’ survival in both esophageal and gastric cancers. The mean survival rate in patient with gastric and esophageal cancers according to age and gender was not significant. Conclusion: This study showed that the overall short-term survival rates for upper gastrointestinal cancers are very low in Golestan province. Therefore the need for intervention the need and allocating more diagnosis and therapeutic resources for upper gastrointestinal cancers are required.