Retrospective cohort evaluation on risk of pneumonia in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTb) and pneumonia are diseases that may exist concomitantly. Population study investigating the subsequent pneumonia development in PTb patients is limited. This study compares the risk of pneumonia between cohorts with and without PTb.We used the claims data of the Taiwan National Health Insurance to identify a cohort with PTb (N = 3417) newly diagnosed in 2000-2006 without pneumonia history, and a randomly selected comparison cohort (N = 6834) free of PTb and pneumonia, frequency matched by propensity score. Incidence rates and hazard ratios of pneumonia were calculated by sex, age, and comorbidity starting in the 7th month after the cohorts being established until the end of 2011.We found the incidence of pneumonia to be 1.9-fold higher in the PTb cohort than in the PTb free cohort (51.6 vs 27.0 per 1000 person-years). The PTb cohort had a Cox method estimated adjusted hazard ratio of 2.14 (95% confidence interval = 1.96-2.32). We also found that the risk was greater for men than for women, but lower for young adults aged 20-39 years. Comorbidity interacted with PTb by aggravating the pneumonia risk, particularly for those with asthma. For PTb patients comorbid with asthma, the pneumonia incidence was 2.5-fold higher than for PTb patients free of comorbidities (75.9 vs 29.3 per 1000 person-years).Our results display that PTb patients have an elevated risk of developing pneumonia. Adequate follow-up should be provided to the PTb patients, especially those with comorbidity.

Predictors of home health care services for cerebral vascular disease patients in Taiwan.

The National Health Insurance in Taiwan has rigid regulations for reimbursing home nursing care with payment only for technical/skill care such as changing nasogastric tubes, urine catheters, and tracheal tubes, wound care, and specimen collection. Patients with chronic illnesses who reside at home, however, require care that is holistic and focuses on wellness rather than illness. Cerebral vascular disease (CVD) patients are the largest group receiving home nursing care. They qualify for reimbursement under NHI. The purposes of this study were to quantify the home health care (HHC) needs of CVD patients and to understand predictors for HHC services for CVD patients in Taiwan. A descriptive correlation design was used to examine the relationship between a CVD patient's health status and the need for HHC services. In total, 195 patients were interviewed by one trained research assistant, with 124 patients being from Taipei (an urban area in Taiwan) and the remaining 71 from I-lan (a rural area in Taiwan). The mean age of subjects was 74.8 years, with 60% of the sample being female. Physiological health status scores (M = 2.56, SD = 0.58, range = 1-5) were worse than the psychosocial health status scores (M = 2.37, SD = 0.91, range = 1-5), which indicates that the need for health education and skilled nursing services was higher than referral services for professional HHC services. Results suggest that there is a need to develop and shape NHI policy to cover more holistic HHC services for CVD patients.