Leptospirosis in Iran: A Gender- Based Association - Abstract
The gender-based association has always been neglected in all epidemiologic studies of leptospirosis worldwide. The present analytical study focuses on the significance of gender in susceptibility to leptospirosis. The target population includes all identified patients with leptospirosis in Golestan province, located in northern Iran, between 2011 and 2023. Data was collected and coded using SPSS software and analyzed using chi-square tests, independent t-tests, multiple logistic regression as well as Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Overall, 316 diagnosed patients were included in the study. The gender proportion in leptospirosis incidence favors males, with a ratio of 3:1. The highest frequency of patients was among males (73.7%). The mean age was 45±16 years for males and 47±15 years for females. In terms of seasonal association, the highest frequency was occurred between July and August (21.9%) for males and in July alone (21.7%) for females. Overall, no significant relationship was found between occupational groups and potential disease sources by gender. However, examining the frequency ratio of disease occurrence in gender subgroups reveals a significant distribution in the rice farmers compared to other occupation subgroups (p<0.001). Nonetheless, the reasons behind these distributions and differences needs more investigations.