Relationship between workplace violence and mental/physical health of security guards during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between workplace violence (WPV) and mental and physical health (MPH) of security guards during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 15 representative security companies across northern, central, and southern Taiwan, and outlying islands from July 2021 to June 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 1,200 questionnaires were distributed. A total of 1,032 valid questionnaires were collected. Results: 13.18% of the participants reported that they had experienced WPV during the COVID-19 pandemic, including physical violence (PhV), psychological violence (PsV), verbal violence (VV), and sexual harassment (SH). The most common violence was VV (54.19%), followed by PsV (20.69%). Community residents and property owners were the primary perpetrators, followed by strangers. The study showed that the security guards who had experienced WPV had higher scores on the 12-item Chinese Health Questionnaire (Taiwan version) (CHQ-12), indicating poorer MPH than those who had never experienced WPV. The result showed that VV had strong correlations with the lack of effective communication, dissatisfaction with treatment and service attitude, and work stress. PsV was strongly associated with excessive waiting times. Conclusion: There were correlations among PhV, VV, and PsV and they had adverse impacts on MPH, except for SH. The study found that the primary perpetrators of WPV against security guards were community residents and property owners. The causes were the lack of effective communication, dissatisfaction with treatment and service attitude, excessive waiting times, and work stress, which further led to turnover intention and poor MPH. The findings of this study have useful implications and it is recommended to enhance the understanding of workplace violence against security guards and to formulate appropriate local and international strategies to address it.

Risk of CKD among patients with DM taking diuretics or SGLT2i: a retrospective cohort study in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term risk of CKD and renal function declines using a combination of diuretics and SGLT2i. METHODS: We selected the data of subjects who had at least two outpatient records or at least one inpatient record for DM treatment as the DM group from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Patients receiving versus not receiving SGLT2i were defined as the SGLT2i and non-SGLT2i cohorts, respectively. The patients in the two groups were matched 1:1 through propensity score matching based on age, sex, year of index date, and comorbidities. RESULTS: The diuretics-only group had a higher risk of CKD (aHR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.68-3.61) compared to the neither SGLT2i nor diuretics group, while the both SGLT2i and diuretics group and the SGLT2i only group had lower risks (aHR, 0.45, 95% CI, 0.32-0.63; aHR, 0.26, 95% CI, 0.17-0.40) than the diuretics-only group. The SGLT2i-only group had a lower risk (aHR, 0.58, 95% CI, 0.36-0.94) than the both SGLT2i and diuretics group. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that diuretics could raise the risk of CKD in diabetic patients, but when used in combination with SGLT2i, they continue to offer protection against CKD.

Long-term exposure to air pollution and risk of Sarcopenia in adult residents of Taiwan: a nationwide retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is an age-related, multifactorial syndrome. Previous studies have shown that air pollutants are associated with inflammation and oxidative stress. However, the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and sarcopenia is not completely understood. METHODS: The Taiwan National Health Research Database (NHIRD) contains medical records of almost all Taiwanese residents. Daily air pollution data collected by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency was used to analyze concentrations of sulfur oxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10). The databases were merged according to the insurants' living area and the location of the air quality monitoring station. We categorized the pollutants into quartiles (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4). RESULTS: Our study population consisted of 286,044 patients, among whom 54.9% were female and 45.1% were male. Compared to Q1 levels of pollutants, Q4 levels of SO2 (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 8.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.84, 9.07); CO (aHR = 3.03; 95%CI = 2.83, 3.25); NO (aHR = 3.47; 95%CI = 3.23, 3.73); NO2 (aHR = 3.72; 95%CI = 3.48, 3.98); PM2.5 (aHR = 21.9; 95% CI = 19.7, 24.5) and PM10 (aHR = 15.6; 95%CI = 14.1, 17.4) increased risk of sarcopenia. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated a significantly increased risk of sarcopenia in both male and female residents exposed to high levels of air pollutants.

The Rehabilitative Effect of Archery Exercise Intervention in Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Archery exercise exerts a rehabilitative effect on patients with paraplegia and might potentially serve as complementary physiotherapy for patients with Parkinson's disease. Objective: This study aimed to examine the rehabilitative effects of an archery intervention. Methods: A randomized controlled trial of a 12-week intervention was performed in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Thirty-one of the 39 eligible patients recruited from a medical center in Taiwan participated in the trial, of whom 16 were in the experimental group practicing archery exercises and 15 were in the control group at the beginning; twenty-nine completed the whole process. The Purdue pegboard test (PPT), the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale I to III (UPDRS I to III), physical fitness test, and timed up and go test (TUG) were used to assess the intervention effects of archery exercise. Results: Compared to the control group, the outcome differences between the posthoc and baseline tests in PPT, UPDRS I to III, lower extremity muscular strength, and TUG in the experimental group (between-group difference in difference's mean: 2.07, 1.59, 1.36, -2.25, -3.81, -9.10, 3.57, and -1.51, respectively) did show positive changes and their effect sizes examined from Mann-Whitney U tests (η: 0.631, 0.544, 0.555, 0.372, 0.411, 0.470, 0.601, and 0.381, respectively; Ps < 0.05) were medium to large, indicating that the archery intervention exerted promising effects on improving hand flexibility and finger dexterity, activity functions in motor movement, lower extremity muscular strength, and gait and balance ability. Conclusions: Traditional archery exercise was suggested to have a rehabilitative effect for mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and could be a form of physiotherapy. Nevertheless, studies with larger sample sizes and extended intervention periods are needed to ascertain the long-term effects of archery exercise.

Ethnic disparity in metabolic syndrome and related obesity and health behavior: a community study in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: As studies on ethnic disparities in metabolic syndrome and its risk factors in Taiwan are still rare, the aims of this study were: (1) to detect the differences in the rates of metabolic syndrome, obesity and health behaviors between two ethnic groups (indigenous Tsou and nonindigenous Han) living in the same area and with similar age and sex distributions; (2) to examine whether ethnicity per se plays a significant role in the occurrence of metabolic syndrome, while taking other risk factors including sociodemographic characteristics, obesity and health behaviors into consideration. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study using data from a community survey conducted in Chiayi County in southwestern Taiwan. A frequency matching strategy by age and sex with a ratio of 1 (Tsou) to 3 (Han) was applied to select a comparable sample between both ethnic groups (667 Tsou and 2001 Han) from among the survey participants. Furthermore, participants with cardiometabolic diseases diagnosed before the surveyed day were excluded to avoid confounding any associated risk factors for developing metabolic syndrome (MS). A final analytic sample of 1482 remained. The used information included sociodemographic characteristics, medical histories, health behaviors, and the concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and glucose. RESULTS: Indigenous Tsou had significantly higher rates of metabolic syndromes, obesity and unhealthy behaviors than their Han counterparts (MS: 54.0% vs. 29.1%, obesity: 54.0% vs. 23.2%, drinking alcohol: 17.5% vs. 13.6%, and higher intake of fried food: 6.4% vs. 4.4%), even though they were similar in age and sex distributions. The significant risk factors for subsequently developing MS included being indigenous Tsou (adjusted POR = 2.62, P < 0.001), older, single, and obese. Stratified analyses on the risk factors for developing MS by health behaviors and by obese problems also indicated increased risks of being indigenous Tsou. CONCLUSIONS: There existed ethnic differences in the rates of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and health behaviors. Ethnicity per se did play a significant role in developing MS; in particular indigenous Tsou people had increased risks, suggesting possible biological reasons rooted in their origins that need further exploration. In addition, unhealthy behaviors may potentially have an indirect effect on developing MS via their effect on obesity.

The effects of traffic-related air pollutants on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the community-based general population.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the impact of traffic pollution on the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Therefore, using frequency matching and propensity scores, we explored the association between traffic pollution and COPD in a cohort of 8284 residents in a major agricultural county in Taiwan. METHODS: All subjects completed a structured questionnaire interview and health checkups. Subjects with COPD were identified using Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Databases. A hybrid kriging/LUR model was used to identify levels of traffic-related air pollutants (PM2.5 and O3). Multiple logistic regression models were used to calculate the prevalence ratios (PRs) of COPD and evaluate the role played by traffic-related indices between air pollutants and COPD. The distributed lag nonlinear model was applied in the analysis; we excluded current or ever smokers to perform the sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: Increased PRs of COPD per SD increment of PM2.5 were 1.10 (95% CI 1.05-1.15) and 1.25 (95% CI 1.13-1.40) in the population with age and sex matching as well as propensity-score matching, respectively. The results of the sensitivity analysis were similar between the single and two pollutant models. PM2.5 concentrations were significantly associated with traffic flow including sedans, buses, and trucks (p < 0.01). The higher road area and the higher PM2.5 concentrations near the subject's residence correlated with a greater risk of developing COPD (p for interaction < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution may be positively associated with the prevalence of COPD.

The Temporal Relationship between Selected Mental Disorders and Substance-Related Disorders: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.

Introduction. Previous studies have examined the association between specific mental disorders, particularly mood and anxiety disorders, and substance-related disorders; but the temporal link between them remains unclear. This study aimed to examine whether individuals with specific mental disorders, including affective psychoses, neurotic disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and adjustment reaction, have higher risks for subsequently developing substance-related disorders compared to those without. Methods. A large-scale study with longitudinal data was conducted using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) consisting of 2,000,118 patients' medical records from 2000 to 2009. A total of 124,423 people diagnosed with selected mental disorders and the same number of people without the diagnoses of the selected disorders were identified between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2006, and followed up for the diagnoses of substance-related disorders till the end of 2009. We estimated the risk for subsequently developing substance-related disorders among patients with the selected mental disorders compared to those without by using Cox proportional hazard models. The cumulative incidence of substance-related disorders was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results. The risk for developing substance-related disorders in patients with selected mental disorders is about 5 times (HR=5.09, 95% CI: 4.74-5.48) higher than those without after adjusting for potential confounding variables. From the multivariate analyses of subsamples stratified by age, sex, and urban and income levels, we found all adjusted hazard ratios were significantly higher than 1.0, ranging from 2.12 (95% CI: 1.72-2.62) to 14.55 (95% CI: 7.89-26.83). For children and adolescents aged 10-19 years, those with specific mental disorders had 14.55-fold higher risk for developing substance-related disorders in later life compared to their counterparts. Furthermore, patients with personality disorders had the highest risk (HR=25.05). Conclusions. The earlier onset of the selected mental disorders is a potential risk for developing substance-related disorders in later life, particularly for personality disorders. Health professionals should pay more attention to this at-risk population, especially to adolescents with mental disorders.

Increased risk of incident nasopharyngeal carcinoma with exposure to air pollution.

BACKGROUND: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a race-specific malignancy. The nasal cavity is the main entry point for air pollutants or poisonous gases into the human body. However, the risk of NPC in populations exposed to air pollution remains unknown. METHODS: We combined data from the Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Database (TAQMD) and the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID) to assess the risk of NPC in a population exposed to air pollution. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis revealed positive trends for the association between the risk of NPC and exposure to air pollution. After adjusting for potential covariates, the risk of developing NPC increased with the increase in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure concentrations from 1.39 to 2.28 and 2.01 to 1.97, respectively, compared to the risks at the lowest concentration levels. CONCLUSIONS: We identified a significant risk of NPC in a population exposed to air pollution. However, this study had several limitations. Moreover, additional experimental and clinical studies on the associations between environmental factors and NPC risk are warranted.

A model-free test for detecting disease association signals with multiple genetic variants and covariates.

Discoveries and analyses of genetic variants at a gene or exome based on high-throughput sequencing technology are increasingly feasible. Although many well-known association tests have already been proposed in literature for testing whether a group of variants in a target region is associated with a disease of interest, however, the analytic challenges still remain profound. The power performance of these tests generally depends on the sample size, numbers of causal and neutral variants, variant frequency, effect size, and direction. Some of these factors are not easily controllable in practical applications. Further complications arise from missing genotype, population stratification or misspecification of the working model. Previous studies showed that many model-based tests might create false positive results or decrease power when there was population stratification effect or missing genotype and simple imputation was used. Here, we demonstrate by simulations that type I errors of the well-known model-based tests are often inflated as well, even the working model deviates slightly from the true model. We propose a model-free test and show this test to be almost uniformly most powerful among the competing tests under very general simulation conditions with covariates. This test does not require genotype data to be complete and hence difficult imputation can be avoided. We also discuss how to adjust for the effect of population stratification based on principal components, and use a Shanghai Breast Cancer Study to demonstrate application of the new test.

Utilization of Chinese herbal medicine and its association with the risk of fracture in patients with Parkinson's disease in Taiwan.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for over two thousand years to treat motor impairments corresponding to the clinical manifestations of Parkinson's disease (PD). AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to investigate the prescription of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for the management of PD and further determine whether CHM can improve motor function and decrease the risk of incident fracture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients older than 40 years newly diagnosed with PD between January 1997 and December 2010 were selected from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) and followed up until the end of 2013. We used 1:1 frequency matching by age, sex, index year, and initial diagnostic year to compare the TCM users and non-TCM users. We used a Cox regression model and the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate the risk of developing fracture among the TCM and non-TCM users. RESULTS: In total, 7197 patients older than 40 years were newly diagnosed with PD between 1997 and 2010 in Taiwan. Among these patients, 3456 were TCM users, and 3730 were non-TCM users. We compared 2007 PD patients with comparable demographic characteristics and comorbidity profiles between the two cohorts. During the follow-up period, compared with the non-TCM cohort, fewer patients in the TCM cohort had incident fractures (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.44-0.56). The cumulative incidence of fracture was lower in the TCM cohort (log-rank test, p < 0.0001). Shi-Chang-Pu (Acorus gramineus Aiton), Yuan-Zhi (Polygala tenuifolia Willd), Bei-Mu (Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don), Hai-Piao-Xiao (Sepiella maindronide Rochebrune; Sepia esculenta Hoyle), and Tian-Ma (Gastrodia elata Blume) constituted the core Chinese herbal medicine prescriptions used to treat PD patients. CONCLUSIONS: The present study identified the core prescription pattern for the management of PD in Taiwan. Complementary CHM therapy was associated with a reduced risk of fracture in PD patients.

Improved final predicted height with the injection of leuprolide in children with earlier puberty: A retrospective cohort study.

The adult height of children with early onset puberty is limited by the premature maturation of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. To evaluate the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa) treatment on the final height (FH) and bone maturation rate (BMR) in girls with early puberty (EP) or idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP), we examined data from girls who were diagnosed with EP or ICPP and underwent GnRHa (Leuplin Depot: 3.75 mg/month) at China Medical University Hospital, in Taiwan, between 2006 and 2015. Patients were observed until the achievement of FH and divided into an "EP group" (T-ep) and "ICPP group" (T-icpp) according to the age of onset of puberty. Eighty-seven patients were enrolled (T-ep, N = 44, puberty onset at 8-10 years; T-icpp, N = 43, puberty onset before 8 years). The demographic data of girls with EP or IPP was characterized. BMR, change in predicted final height (PFH) after GnRHa treatment, target height (TH) and FH were measured. After GnRHa treatment, the study groups (T-ep: 160.24±6.18 cm, T-icpp: 158.99±5.92 cm) both had higher PFH than at initiation (T-ep: 159.83±7.19 cm, T-icpp: 158.58±5.93 cm). There was deceleration of BMR in both groups (T-ep: 0.57±0.39; T-icpp: 0.97±0.97) and a significant difference between the groups (p = 0.027). The gap in FH standard deviation scores (SDS) and TH SDS had a significant difference in T-ep (p = 0.045) but not in T-icpp. Moreover, there was no difference in the gap of PFH SDS between the 1st and final treatment in both groups. We concluded that GnRHa decelerated BMR in girls with earlier puberty. Further prospective clinical studies are warranted.

Long-term exposure to air pollution and the incidence of Parkinson's disease: A nested case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies revealed that chronic exposure to air pollution can significantly increase the risk of the development of Parkinson's disease (PD), but this relationship is inconclusive as large-scale prospective studies are limited and the results are inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to ascertain the adverse health effects of air pollution exposure in a nationwide population using a longitudinal approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control study using the National Health Insurance Research Dataset (NHIRD), which consisted of 1,000,000 beneficiaries in the National Health Insurance Program (NHI) in the year 2000 and their medical records from 1995 to 2013 and using public data on air pollution concentrations from monitoring stations across Taiwan released from the Environmental Protection Administration to identify people with ages ≥ 40 years living in areas with monitoring stations during 1995-1999 as study subjects. Then, we excluded subjects with PD, dementia, stroke and diabetes diagnosed before Jan. 1, 2000 and obtained 54,524 subjects to follow until Dec. 31, 2013. In this observational period, 1060 newly diagnosed PD cases were identified. 4240 controls were randomly selected from those without PD using a matching strategy for age, sex, the year of PD diagnosis and the year of entering the NHI program at a ratio of 1:4. Ten elements of air pollution were examined, and multiple logistic regression models were used to measure their risks in subsequent PD development. RESULTS: The incidence of PD in adults aged ≥ 40 years was 1.9%, and the median duration for disease onset was 8.45 years. None of the chemical compounds (SO2, O3, CO, NOx, NO, NO2, THC, CH4, or NMHC) significantly affected the incidence of PD except for particulate matter. PM10 exposure showed significant effects on the likelihood of PD development (T3 level: > 65µg/m3 versus T1 level: ≤ 54µg/m3; OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.12-1.62, 0.001 ≤ P < 0.01). In addition, comorbid conditions such as dementia (ORs = 3.53-3.93, Ps < 0.001), stroke (ORs = 2.99-3.01, Ps < 0.001), depression (ORs = 2.51-2.64, Ps < 0.001), head injury (ORs = 1.24-1.29, 0.001 ≤ Ps < 0.01 or 0.01 ≤ Ps < 0.05), sleep disorder (OR = 1.23-1.26, 0.001 ≤ Ps < 0.01), and hypertension (ORs = 1.18-1.19, 0.01 ≤ Ps < 0.05) also significantly increased the risk for PD development. CONCLUSIONS: Although PM10 plays a significant role in PD development, the associated chemical/metal compounds that are capable of inducing adverse biological mechanisms still warrant further exploration. Because of a link between comorbid conditions and PM exposure, research on the causal relationship between long-term exposure to PM and the development of PD should be considered with caution because other possible modifiers or mediators, comorbid diseases in particular, may be involved.

The decline in kidney function with chromium exposure is exacerbated with co-exposure to lead and cadmium.

Environmental factors contribute significantly to the pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease. However, these factors, and particularly the toxic effects of heavy metals, have not been completely evaluated. Chromium is a widespread industrial contaminant that has been linked to nephrotoxicity in animal and occupational population studies. Nevertheless, its role in population renal health and its potential interactions with other nephrotoxic metals, such as lead and cadmium, remain unknown. We assessed the association between exposure to chromium, lead, and cadmium with renal function using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in an analysis of 360 Taiwanese adults aged 19-84 years from the National Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (2005-2008). Doubling of urinary chromium or lead decreased the eGFR by -5.99 mL/min/1.73 m2 (95% confidence interval -9.70, -2.27) and -6.61 (-9.71, -3.51), respectively, after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, cigarette smoking, sodium intake, education, urinary volume, and other metals. For those in the highest tertile of cadmium exposure, the eGFR decreased by -12.68 mL/min/1.73 m2 (95% confidence interval -20.44, -4.93) and -11.22 mL/min/1.73 m2 (-17.01, -5.44), as urinary chromium or lead levels doubled, respectively. Thus, there is a significant and independent association between chromium exposure and decreased renal function. Furthermore, co-exposure to chromium with lead and cadmium is potentially associated with additional decline in the glomerular filtration rate in Taiwanese adults.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Relationship to Early Pregnancy Discomforts.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and examined its association with pregnancy discomforts. METHODS: We used structured questionnaires to interview a convenience sample of 139 pregnant women (8-20 weeks of gestation) recruited from 2 hospitals in central Taiwan. RESULTS: We found that 84% of the participants experienced ETS exposure in their households, workplaces, and/or public areas. Bivariate analyses showed the severity of pregnancy discomforts in the participants exposed to a high level of ETS was higher than that in those exposed to a low level of ETS. We found the discomfort symptoms of thirst, heartburn, lower abdominal pain, frequent urination, and depression to be significantly associated with ETS exposure. There also was a dose-response relationship between ETS exposure and discomfort. In addition, the presence of at least 4 out of those 5 symptoms served as a signal for raising women's self-awareness to avoid ETS hazards. CONCLUSION: Our study provides empirical evidence of an adverse relationship between ETS exposure and early pregnancy discomforts. The exposure to ETS in pregnant women remains high, and health education programs targeting this population should enhance their self-awareness to the discomforts related to ETS exposure and prompt them to adopt prevention strategies.

Air pollution exposure increases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis: A longitudinal and nationwide study.

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with inhaled pollutants in several studies, and it is a disease of chronic inflammation. The association between air pollution and the risk of RA remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted this nationwide, retrospective, sex-stratification study to evaluate this association. METHODS: We collected data from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID), maintained by the Taiwan Bureau of National Health Insurance, and the Taiwan Air Quality-Monitoring Database (TAQMD), released by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency. The TAQMD provides the daily concentrations of particulate matter with the aerodynamic diameter <2.5µm (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from 74 ambient air quality-monitoring stations distributed all over Taiwan during 1998-2010. The LHID and TAQMD were linked according to the residential areas of insurants and the areas where the air quality-monitoring stations were located. A residential area was defined according to the location of the clinic and hospital that treated acute upper respiratory tract infections. The yearly average air pollutant concentrations were categorized into 4 levels based on quartiles. We evaluated the risk of RA in residents exposed to 4 levels of PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations. RESULTS: We detected an increased risk of RA in participants exposed to PM2.5 and NO2. Among four quartiles of NO2 concentration, namely Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, the adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) in Q2, Q3, and Q4 compared with that in Q1 were 1.07 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.76-1.50), 1.63 (95% CI=1.16-2.31),and 1.49 (95% CI=1.05-2.12), respectively. Regarding the PM2.5 concentrations, the aHRs after exposure to the Q2, Q3, and Q4 levels were 1.22 (95% CI=0.85-1.74), 1.15 (95% CI=0.82-1.62), and 0.79 (95% CI=0.53-1.16), respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of this nationwide study suggest an increased risk of RA in residents exposed to NO2.

A Large-Scale Study Indicates Increase in the Risk of Epilepsy in Patients With Different Risk Factors, Including Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Peripheral neuropathy and inflammatory reactions of the central nervous system may accompany rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Inflammatory processes play a critical role in epilepsy. Therefore, we conducted this study to determine the risk of epilepsy in patients with RA.The RA cohort comprised patients ages 20 years and older who were newly diagnosed with RA between 2000 and 2011, with data obtained from the Registry of Catastrophic Illnesses Patient Database. Patients without RA were frequency matched with an RA cohort at a 1:1 ratio according to age, sex, and year of RA diagnosis.The overall crude hazard ratio (HR) for epilepsy was 1.27-fold higher in the RA cohort compared with that in the controls. After adjustment for age, sex, comorbidities, and medications, the patients with RA were associated with an increased risk of epilepsy compared with those without RA (adjusted HR [aHR] = 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.12-2.07). Compared with the RA patients with ≤ 560 days of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, the RA patients with 1181 to 2145 and >2145 days of NSAID use had a significantly lower risk of epilepsy (aHR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.24-0.52 and aHR = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.09-0.24, respectively).This study provides compelling evidence of an increased risk of epilepsy in patients with RA. The period of NSAID treatment is negatively associated with the risk of epilepsy in RA patients.

Levels of Urbanization and Parental Education in Relation to the Mortality Risk of Young Children.

BACKGROUND: The establishment of the National Health Insurance program in Taiwan in 1995 effectively removed the financial barrier to access health care services of Taiwanese people. This population-based cohort study aimed to determine the independent and joint effects of parental education and area urbanization on the mortality risk among children under the universal health insurance coverage in Taiwan since 1995. METHODS: We linked 1,501,620 births from 1996 to 2000 to the Taiwan Death Registry to estimate the neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality rates, according to the levels of parental education and urbanization of residential areas. We used a logistic regression model that considers data clustering to estimate the independent and joint effects. RESULTS: Lower levels of parental education and area urbanization exerted an independent effect of mortality on young children, with a stronger magnitude noted for areas with lower levels of urbanization. Children whose parents had lower levels of education and who were born in areas with lower levels of urbanization experienced the highest risk for neonatal (odds ratio (OR) = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.46-1.76), infant (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.48-1.70), and under-five (OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.61-1.82) mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Even with universal health insurance coverage, lower levels of area urbanization and parental education still exerted independent and joint effects on mortality in young children. This finding implies the inadequate accessibility to health care resources for children from socially disadvantaged families and less urbanized areas.

Prompt Oseltamivir Therapy Reduces Medical Care and Mortality for Patients With Influenza Infection: An Asian Population Cohort Study.

There are limited population-based studies on the progress of oseltamivir therapy for influenza infection.Using insurance claims data of 2005, 2009, and 2010, the authors established an "in-time" cohort and a "lag-time" cohort representing influenza patients taking the medicine within and not within 1 week to examine the treatment progress. Incident outpatient visit, emergency care and hospitalization, and fatality were compared between the 2 cohorts in the first week and the second week of follow-up periods, after the oseltamivir therapy.A total of 112,492 subjects diagnosed with influenza on oseltamivir therapy in 2005, 2009, and 2010 were identified. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the in-time treatment was superior to the lag-time treatment with less repeat outpatient visits, hospitalizations, and fatality. The overall corresponding in-time treatment to lag-time treatment odds ratios (OR) were 0.50, 0.54, and 0.71 (all P value < 0.05), respectively. The in-time to lag-time ORs of all events were 0.50 in 2009 and 0.54 in 2010.Our study demonstrates that the in-time oseltamivir therapy leads to significantly better treatment outcomes. Oseltamivir should be administered as early as the onset of influenza symptoms appears.

Exposure to air pollution increases the risk of osteoporosis: a nationwide longitudinal study.

Several studies have indicated that air pollution induces systemic as well as tissue-specific inflammation. Chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease reduce bone mineral density (BMD), leading to increased release of immune cells from the bone marrow. However, the association between air pollution and osteoporosis remains poorly defined. Therefore, we conducted this population-based retrospective cohort study to evaluate the risk of osteoporosis in Taiwanese residents exposed to air pollution.We combined 2 nationwide databases in this study. The National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan was available from 2000 to 2010. Detailed daily data on air pollution were collected by Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 1998 to 2010. We calculated the yearly average concentrations of air pollutants from the study start to the date of osteoporosis occurrence, or withdrawal from the NHI program, or December 31, 2010. The yearly average concentrations of air pollutants were categorized into quartiles, and the risks of osteoporosis were evaluated among 4 stages of air pollutants.Among Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 of pollutants in all subjects, the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of osteoporosis in Q2, Q3, and Q4 were compared with Q1. For carbon monoxide (CO), the adjusted HRs were 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97-1.14), 1.78 (95% CI, 1.65-1.92), and 1.84 (95% CI, 1.71-1.98), respectively. For nitrogen dioxide (NO2), the adjusted HRs were 1.35 (95% CI, 1.25-1.45), 1.24 (95% CI, 1.15-1.35), and 1.60 (95% CI, 1.48-1.73), respectively, in all subjects.The findings of the present study show that CO and NO2 exposure is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis in the Taiwanese population.

Does Social Health Insurance Close the Gap: The Case of Socioeconomic Status and Preterm Low-Birth-Weight Survival.

Using a retrospective cohort study design, we report empirical evidence on the effect of parental socioeconomic status, primary care, and health care expenditure associated with preterm or low-birth-weight (PLBW) babies on their mortality (neonatal, postneonatal, and under-5 mortality) under a universal health care system. A total of 4668 singleton PLBW babies born in Taiwan between January 1 and December 31, 2001, are extracted from a population-based medical claims database for a follow-up of up to 5 years. Multivariate survival models suggest the positive effect of higher parental income is significant in neonatal period but diminishes in later stages. Consistent inverse relationship is observed between adequate antenatal care and the three outcomes: neonatal hazard ratio (HR) = 0.494, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.312 to 0.783; postneonatal HR = 0.282, 95% CI = 0.102 to 0.774; and under-5 HR = 0.575, 95% CI = 0.386 to 0.857. Primary care services uptake should be actively promoted, particularly in lower income groups, to prevent premature PLBW mortality.