Identification and medical utilization of newly diagnosed panic disorder: A Nationwide case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: Ascertaining comorbid illnesses and patterns of medical utilization early in the course of psychiatric illness can help identify patients with panic disorder. We investigated how such cases were diagnosed and the comorbidities associated with newly diagnosed panic disorder in a nationwide database. METHODS: We enrolled a large representative cohort of the general population in Taiwan (N = 1000,000) and selected 9759 cases of panic disorder from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2013. The distribution of the departments in which the cases were identified and the medical utilization 12 months before diagnosis were analyzed. Based on a nested case-control study, four controls were randomly selected for each case and matched for sex, age, and incidence year. Conditional logistic regression was used to explore the factors associated with newly-diagnosed panic disorder such as demographic factors, concomitant medications, and physical and psychiatric comorbidities. RESULTS: Most (58.5%) cases of panic disorder were diagnosed in the psychiatry department, whereas only 3.7% were identified in the emergency department. Before diagnosis, the patients frequently visited the departments of internal medicine, family practice, and Chinese herbal medicine. A multivariate analysis revealed a higher number of physical and psychiatric comorbidities before diagnosis in the cases compared with the controls, especially depressive disorder and other anxiety disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with certain comorbidities and patterns of medical utilization are more likely to be diagnosed with panic disorder. We suggest providing more training to general practitioners and emergency physicians for the early diagnosis of panic disorder.

Nationwide analysis of medical utilization in people with severe mental illness receiving home care case management.

AIM: This nationwide study investigated the change in medical utilization of psychiatric home care case management (CM). METHODS: This nationwide study enrolled patients receiving CM (N = 10,274) from January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2010, from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. Through a 2-year mirror-image comparison weighted by the contributed person-time for each subject, we evaluated changes in medical utilization. Furthermore, a case-crossover analysis was used to verify the independent effect of CM in changing medical utilization by adjusting the time-variant variables between the pre-2-year (within 2 years before receiving CM) and post-2-year (within years after receiving CM) periods. The same methodology was applied for the subsequent 2-year comparison to assess the maintenance effect. RESULTS: Of the 10,274 patients receiving CM, 69.7% had schizophrenia. The results showed a chronological trend for the intervention of CM. The adjusted mirror-image analysis revealed a significant decrement of psychiatric and involuntary admissions after the intervention, and the utilization shifted toward psychiatric outpatient service. The case-crossover analysis with the adjustment of time-variant covariates confirmed the independent effect of CM on the changes of medical utilization. The comparable effect persisted after the next 2 years of intervention. However, CM showed no impact on lowering the admission rate for comorbid physical illnesses after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The CM model can effectively reduce psychiatric hospitalization and involuntary admission frequency but has no effect on comorbid physical illnesses. Care models aimed at ameliorating physical problems in such patients are needed.

Excess incidence and risk factors for recurrent pneumonia in bipolar disorder.

AIM: Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) tend to have poorer outcomes after pneumonia and could have a higher risk for recurrence of pneumonia. We aimed to investigate the incidence and risk factors of recurrent pneumonia in patients with BD. METHODS: In a nationwide cohort of BD patients (derived from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan) who were hospitalized for pneumonia between 1996 and 2012, we identified 188 patients who developed recurrent pneumonia after a baseline pneumonia episode. Applying risk-set sampling at a 1:2 ratio, 353 matched controls were selected from the study cohort. We used multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis to explore the association between recurrent pneumonia and physical illness, concomitant medications, and psychotropic drugs. RESULTS: The findings showed that the incidence of recurrent pneumonia in BD was 6.60 cases per 100 person-years, which was higher than that in the general population. About 10% (9.24%) of cases with recurrent pneumonia died within 30 days of hospitalization. Patients had increased risk of recurrent pneumonia if they had hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cancer, or asthma. Conversely, psychotropic drugs, both first- and second-generation antipsychotics, which are known to increase susceptibility to baseline pneumonia, were not associated with risk of pneumonia recurrence. CONCLUSION: We found an excess incidence of recurring pneumonia in patients with BD, and this risk was associated with pre-existing medical conditions but not psychotropic agents. Physicians should carefully consider the comorbid medical conditions of patients with BD that could lead to recurrent pneumonia.

Antipsychotic medications and stroke in schizophrenia: A case-crossover study.

BACKGROUND: The association between antipsychotic use and the risk of stroke in schizophrenic patients is controversial. We sought to study the association in a nationwide cohort with schizophrenia. METHODS: Using a retrospective cohort of patients with schizophrenia (N = 31,976) derived from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 802 new-onset cases of stroke were identified within 10 years of follow-up (from 2000 through 2010). We designed a case-crossover study using 14-day windows to explore the risk factors of stroke and the association between antipsychotic drugs and the risk of stroke. We analyzed the risks of individual antipsychotics on various subgroups of stroke including ischemic, hemorrhagic, and other strokes, and the risks based on the antipsychotic receptor-binding profile of each drug. RESULTS: Use of any second-generation antipsychotic was associated with an increased risk of stroke (adjusted risk ratio = 1.45, P = .009) within 14 days while the use of any first-generation antipsychotic was not. Intriguingly, the use of any second-generation antipsychotic was associated with ischemic stroke but not hemorrhagic stroke. The antipsychotic receptor-binding profile analysis showed that the antihistamine 1 receptor was significantly associated with ischemic stroke (adjusted risk ratio = 1.72, P = .037), and the sensitivity analysis based on the 7-day window of exposure validated the association (adjusted risk ratio = 1.87, P = .015). CONCLUSIONS: Use of second-generation antipsychotic drugs appeared to be associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in the patients studied, possibly mediated by high affinity for histamine-1 receptor blockade. Further research regarding the underlying biological mechanism and drug safety is suggested.

Prescription frequency and patterns of Chinese herbal medicine for liver cancer patients in Taiwan: a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health Insurance Research Database.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is frequently provided to HCC patients. The aim of this study was to understand the prescription frequency and patterns of CHM for HCC patients by analyzing the claims data from the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan. METHODS: We identified 73918 newly diagnosed HCC subjects from the database of Registry for Catastrophic Illness during 2002 to 2009 and to analyze the frequency and pattern of corresponding CHM prescriptions for HCC patients. RESULTS: There were a total of 685,079 single Chinese herbal prescriptions and 553,952 Chinese herbal formula prescriptions used for 17,373 HCC subjects before 2 years of HCC diagnosis. Among the 13,093 HCC subjects who used CHMs after HCC diagnosis, there were 462,786 single Chinese herbal prescriptions and 300,153 Chinese herbal formula prescriptions were counted. By adjusting with person-year and ratio of standardized incidence rate, the top ten prescribed single herbal drugs and Chinese herbal formulas for HCC patients were described in our study. Among them, we concluded that, Oldenlandia diffusa (Chinese herbal name: Bai-Hua-She-She-Cao), Radix et Rhizoma Rhei (Da Huang) and the herbal preparation of Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang and Gan-Lu-Yin, were the most obviously increased and important CHMs been used for HCC patients. CONCLUSION: We established an accurate and validated method for the actual frequency and patterns of CHM use in treating HCC in Taiwan. We propose that these breakthrough findings may have important implications for HCC therapy, clinical trials and modernization of CHM.

Cancer incidence in people with affective disorder: nationwide cohort study in Taiwan, 1997-2010.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is a serious public health problem worldwide, and its relationship with affective disorders is not clear. Aims To investigate alcohol- and tobacco-related cancer risk among patients with affective disorders in a large Taiwanese cohort. METHOD: Records of newly admitted patients with affective disorders from January 1997 through December 2002 were retrieved from the Psychiatric Inpatient Medical Claims database in Taiwan. Cancers were stratified by site and grouped into tobacco- or alcohol-related cancers. Standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated to compare the risk of cancer between those with affective disorders and the general population. RESULTS: Some 10 207 patients with bipolar disorder and 9826 with major depression were included. The risk of cancer was higher in patients with major depression (SIR = 2.01, 95% CI 1.85-2.19) than in those with bipolar disorder (SIR 1.39, 95% CI 1.26-1.53). The elevated cancer risk among individuals ever admitted to hospital for affective disorders was more pronounced in tobacco- and/or alcohol-related cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated cancer risk was found in patients who had received in-patient care for affective disorders. They require holistic approaches to lifestyle behaviours and associated cancer risks.