This study aimed to investigate the long-term outcomes of sulfonylurea (SU) use in patients with T2DM and compensated liver cirrhosis. From January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2012, we selected the data of 3781 propensity-score-matched SU users and nonusers from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. The mean follow-up time for this study was 5.74 years. Cox proportional hazards models with robust sandwich standard error estimates were used to compare the risks of main outcomes between SU users and nonusers. The incidence of mortality during follow-up was 3.24 and 4.09 per 100 person-years for SU users and nonusers, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for all-cause mortality, major cardiovascular events, and decompensated cirrhosis in SU users relative to SU nonusers were 0.79 (0.71-0.88), 0.69 (0.61-0.80), and 0.82 (0.66-1.03), respectively. The SU-associated lower risks of death and cardiovascular events seemed to have a dose-response trend. This population-based cohort study demonstrated that SU use was associated with lower risks of death and major cardiovascular events compared with SU non-use in patients with T2DM and compensated liver cirrhosis. SUs may be useful for glycemic management for patients with liver cirrhosis.

Objective: Overweight and hyperlipidemia, the two established risk factors for acute ischemic stroke, are paradoxically associated with favorable outcomes. The paradox may be resolved by the concept of protein energy wasting (PEW), in which total cholesterol level and body mass index are used as nutritional indexes for predicting outcomes of chronic kidney disease. Methods: Among 12 271 people with acute ischemic stroke and chronic kidney disease, 2086 were defined as being at risk of PEW-with a body mass index <22 kg/m2 plus either a serum albumin level <38 g/L or a total cholesterol level 2) at 1 mo (adjusted odds ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.08-1.61 ) and 3 mo (adjusted odds ratio, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.03-1.56). Conclusions: According to the PEW-based assessment system, a modest decrease in body mass index , total cholesterol levels suggests malnutrition and is associated with adverse outcomes of acute ische-mic stroke. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Lee PY, et al. J Gynecol Oncol. 2020 Oct;32:e13. https://doi.org/10.3802/jgo.2021.32.e13

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the risk and time trends of herpes zoster among patients with head and neck cancer, with or without radiotherapy. Methods: A total of 2160 patients with head and neck cancer were enrolled. The radiotherapy and non- radiotherapy cohorts were frequency-matched at a 1:1 ratio according to sex, age, and index date. Moreover, 1080 matched non-cancer individuals were considered normal controls. Data were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database and Cancer Registry. The primary end point was the incidence of herpes zoster, and the adjusted confounding factors were age, sex, comorbidities, oncological surgery, and chemotherapy. Results: The incidence of herpes zoster was higher in cancer patients than in non-cancer individuals but did not significantly differ (13.67 vs. 8.06 per 1,000 person-years, p = 0.18). The risk of herpes zoster was significantly higher in the radiotherapy cohort than in the non-radiotherapy cohort (18.55 vs. 9.06 per 1,000 person-years, p = 0.03). The 5-year incidence rates in the radiotherapy and non-radiotherapy cohorts were 8.9% and 5%, respectively (p < 0.0001). Survival analysis indicated there was no immortal time bias. The time trends in the radiotherapy cohort persistently showed a high risk within the first 2 years, which decreased thereafter. Only patients with comorbid rheumatoid arthritis showed a significantly high risk of herpes zoster (p = 0.02). Oncological surgery and chemotherapy had no impact on the development of herpes zoster. Conclusions: This nationwide population-based study showed that patients with head and neck cancer receiving radiotherapy are at an increased risk of herpes zoster. Health care professionals should pay more attention to this vulnerable group to improve their quality of life.

The association between vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk remains unestablished. We investigated the incidence of CKD in children with VUR in Taiwan and evaluated whether they had a higher risk of CKD than the general population. A nationwide population-based cohort study was conducted among children with VUR identified using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database from 2000 to 2013. VUR was defined according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. We identified the children with VUR and randomly selected comparison children according to a 1:1 ratio, matching them by age, gender, index year and comorbidity using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database. In total, 8648 children with VUR and 8648 comparison children were included. All children were followed from the study date until a diagnosis of CKD, termination of insurance, or the end of 2013. Cox proportional hazards regressions were performed to compare the hazard ratios for CKD between the 2 cohorts. Incident cases of CKD were identified. After adjustment for potential confounders, the study cohort was independently associated with a higher risk of CKD (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.78; 95% confidence interval, 2.10–7.18). This population-based cohort study indicated that children with VUR have a higher risk of CKD than those without VUR.

Background: Scabies is an infectious inflammatory skin disease. Cytokine-mediated inflammatory responses may be one of the pathological mechanisms underlying myocardial infarction. Objective: We explore the association between scabies and subsequent acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and all-cause mortality; Methods: We conducted a nationwide population-based study using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) in Taiwan. Patients with scabies (n = 30,184) and 120,739 controls without scabies were included. The primary outcomes were incidental AMI and all-cause mortality. Using Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis, we estimated the risk of acute myocardial infarction for the study cohort; Results: The mean age of the study cohort was 51.81 ± 19.89 years. The adjusted sub-distribution hazard ratios (aSHRs) of AMI were 1.214 (95% CI, 1.068–1.381) after adjusting for demographic characteristics, income, OPD utility frequency, days in hospital, co-morbidities, and medication. The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of all-cause mortality after adjusting for age, gender, income, OPD utility frequency, days in hospital, co-morbidities, co-medication, and urbanization was 1.612 (95% CI, 1.557–1.669). Conclusions: Our study showed that patients with scabies infestations were at higher risk for subsequent AMI and all-cause mortality.