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Background This study is a nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study to investigate the risk for developing dementia in thalassemia population. Methods In a longitudinal cohort of 1 million insured people, we identified 871 thalassemia patients who were newly diagnosed between 2000 and 2004 and selected a comparison cohort of 3484 subjects without thalassemia. We analyzed the risks for thalassemia and dementia using Cox proportional hazard regression models to assess the dementia risk in thalassemia patients after adjusting for age, gender, insured amount, urbanization and comorbidities. Results The overall risks for developing dementia were 1.88-fold (95% CI = 1.10–3.21) in patients with thalassemia compared with the comparison cohort after adjusting for age, sex, insured amount, urbanization and comorbidities. The combined effects measured for patients afflicted with thalassemia and the comorbidities of diabetes, hypertension, CAD, head injury, depression, CKD, or substance-related disorder exhibited a significant association with hyperlipidemia risk compared with that measured for patients without thalassemia and without any counterpart comorbidities. In subgroup analysis, the HRs of dementia increased, from 1.69 (95% CI = 0.93–3.07) for those who had not undergone transfusion to 2.72 (95% CI = 1.09–6.78) for those experienced transfusion compared with the no thalassemia cohort (p for trend < 0.01). Conclusion Our long-term cohort study result showed that thalassemia should be considered a crucial risk factor for developing dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Inflammation-related microvasculr disease, albuminuria, and rapid deterioration of renal function can accelerate the development of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The role of hip fracture (HFr), a disorder that involves inflammation, in the development of ESRD has not been fully investigated. This study explored whether HFr increases the risk of ESRD. Methods Taiwan National Health Insurance inpatient claims were used to identify 83,550 patients newly diagnosed with HFr from 2000 to 2006, and 83,550 age- and sex-matched patients without HFr were randomly selected for comparison. Hazards of ESRD combined with HFr, comorbidities, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, peripheral arterial disease, osteoporosis and asthma, and general health status, with Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), were assessed using data to the end of 2011. Results ESRD risk was 1.42-fold higher (95% confidence interval [CI]:1.29–1.33) in the HFr cohort than in the control group, which was computed using the Cox proportional model. Age-specific analysis revealed that the adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of ESRD for HFr patients increased slightly as age increased, with an aHR of 1.56 (95% CI:1.35–1.81) for patients 65–74 years old, which gradually decreased to 0.88 (95% CI:0.66–1.18) for patients ≥ 85 years old. ESRD risk increased as HFr severity increased, with an aHR of 6.71 (95% CI:5.90–7.63) for patients with severe HFr. Conclusion This study is the first to report that HFr, in combination with underlying osteoporosis-related chronic illness, microvascular disease and chronic inflammation, is associated with an increased risk of ESRD, particularly among relatively younger people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]