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Letter To The Editor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2011

Ali Ardalan
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Type
Letter To The Editor
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , August 2011 , pp. 313
Copyright
Copyright Ardalan © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2011

To the Editor:

According to the letter to editor submitted by Drs. Saghafinia and Motamedi, I wish to thank them for their kind interest in our manuscript entitled “Impact of the 26 December 2003 Bam Earthquake on Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living of Older People”(Volume 26 - Issue 02). I appreciate the opportunity to provide the following answers to the authors’ concerns.

  • • In response to comment 1, in contrast with the conclusion reached by authors of the letter, our findings have focused on immediate impacts of the earthquake on ADL and IADL. In this regard, I would refer to Page 104, Col 1, last line and Col 2, Line 1 and 2 of the manuscript that clearly states: “This study revealed that Bam earthquake adversely affected functional performance of elders during a short period of time after the event.”

  • • Responding to comment 2, considering the preference of study on younger age, may I emphasize on this point that, however, elder people have been the intention of this study as is evident from the study objectives expressed in the introduction part of the manuscript. Furthermore, the concepts of ADL and IADL are usually and as expected are well targeted in older age, and referenced in the literature and discipline of gerontology.

  • • In response to comment 3, suggesting a need of a control group for a more valid conclusion, while it is the right comment from methodological point of view, I would draw the kind attention of the authors of the letter to Page 107, Col 2, P 3 that reveals our same concern as below: “To make clearer associations between the earthquake and functional capacity of elders, the study design could be strengthened with applying a control population from a comparable city that is earthquake-prone, but has not experienced an earthquake like Bam. However, budgetary constraints prevented this comparison in the current study.”

I do appreciate again the kind interest of the authors of the letter to this article and you for sharing the letter with me before publication.