<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Articles JournalTitle="Journal of Biostatistics and Epidemiology">
  <Article>
    <Journal>
      <PublisherName>Tehran University of Medical Sciences</PublisherName>
      <JournalTitle>Journal of Biostatistics and Epidemiology</JournalTitle>
      <Issn>2383-4196</Issn>
      <Volume>7</Volume>
      <Issue>2</Issue>
      <PubDate PubStatus="epublish">
        <Year>2021</Year>
        <Month>07</Month>
        <Day>04</Day>
      </PubDate>
    </Journal>
    <title locale="en_US">Growth Factor: an Important Factor in Determining the Fate of Outbreaks</title>
    <FirstPage>221</FirstPage>
    <LastPage>223</LastPage>
    <AuthorList>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Yousef</FirstName>
        <LastName>Alimohamadi</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Pars Advanced and Minimally Invasive Medical Manners Research Center, Pars Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.</affiliation>
      </Author>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Mojtaba</FirstName>
        <LastName>Sepandi</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.</affiliation>
      </Author>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Taher</FirstName>
        <LastName>Teymouri</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Rasool Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran</affiliation>
      </Author>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Hadiseh</FirstName>
        <LastName>Hosamirudsari</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Department of Infectious Diseases, Baharloo Hospital, Railway Square, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.</affiliation>
      </Author>
    </AuthorList>
    <History>
      <PubDate PubStatus="received">
        <Year>2021</Year>
        <Month>04</Month>
        <Day>05</Day>
      </PubDate>
      <PubDate PubStatus="accepted">
        <Year>2021</Year>
        <Month>04</Month>
        <Day>09</Day>
      </PubDate>
    </History>
    <abstract locale="en_US">Introduction: Epidemic curves are a type of time series data consisting of the number of events that occur&#xA0;over a period of time. The time unit in this data can be a day, a week, or a month, etc.&#xA0;
&#xD;

Methods: In the current letter, the authors tried to explain the growth factor and its effect on epidemic&#xA0;curves by using some literature.&#xA0;
&#xD;

Results: In the outbreaks setting, the number of cases can increase with different patterns. When the&#xA0;number of cases is increasing exponentially, it means that the number of cases is increasing at a certain&#xA0;speed, which is determined by a factor called an exponential growth factor. When this factor is greater&#xA0;than one, it means that the cases are increasing exponentially, and when this coefficient is equal to 1, it&#xA0;means that we have reached an inflection point that we will face a change in the growth rate of the cases.&#xA0;
&#xD;

Conclusion: Some factors such as reducing the contact between infected and healthy people, run the social&#xA0;distancing program, and so on can have an effective role in decreasing epidemic growth factor and&#xA0;controlling the epidemic.</abstract>
    <web_url>https://jbe.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jbe/article/view/468</web_url>
  </Article>
</Articles>
