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This study examined the factors influencing the uptake of A/H1N1-related preventive behaviors among Chinese university students. During the 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic, a survey was administered to 2882 university students across 4 Chinese cities. We found greater self-efficacy and a stronger belief in the benefits of preventive behaviors to be associated with the intended adoption of preventive behaviors. However, knowledge about the transmission of A/H1N1 was not associated with the intent to engage in preventive behaviors. These results may be used to inform pandemic prevention campaigns for university students in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aim Bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) is a chronic pain syndrome of unknown etiology that primarily affects women. Using a longitudinal follow-up design, this study aimed to examine the risk of depressive disorder (DD) among women with BPS/IC compared to the general population during a 1-year period following their diagnosis. Method This study used data from the Taiwan 'Longitudinal Health Insurance Database.' A total of 832 patients with BPS/IC were included in the study group and 4,160 matched non-BPS/IC enrollees were included as the comparison group. Each patient (n = 4,992) was individually tracked for a 1-year period to identify those who subsequently received a diagnosis of DD. Cox proportional hazards regressions (stratified by age group and the index year) were used to estimate the risk of subsequent DD following a diagnosis of BPS/IC. Results We found that during the 1-year follow-up, the incidence rate of DD was 4.69 (95% CI: 3.38-6.34) per 100 person-years in patients with BPS/IC and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.68-1.27) per 100 person-years in comparison patients. The hazard ratio (HR) of DD during the 1-year follow-up period for patients with BPS/IC was 5.06 (95% CI: 3.21-7.96, P < 0.001) that of comparison patients after adjusting for patient monthly income, geographic location, and urbanization level. The adjusted HR for DD associated with BPS/IC was 10.33 for patients aged between 40 and 49 (95% CI: 3.68-29.04). Conclusion Our study demonstrated that there is an increased risk for being diagnosed with DD during the first year subsequent to being diagnosed with IC/PBS. Neurourol. Urodynam. 32: 467-471, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. Purpose: To the best of our knowledge, no large population-based studies on the relationship between conjunctival haemorrhage and stroke have been conducted to date. Using a nationwide population-based data set, this study investigated the relationship between conjunctival haemorrhage and the subsequent risk of stroke within a 3-year period following diagnosis. Methods: We analysed data sourced from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. The study cohort consisted of 17 349 patients with conjunctival haemorrhage and 86 745 comparison subjects. Each patient was individually tracked for a 3-year period from their index date to identify all those who had subsequently received a diagnosis of stroke. Results: The incidence rate of stroke was 2.44 (95% CI = 2.31-2.55) per 100 person-years in patients with conjunctival haemorrhage and 1.63 (95% CI = 1.59-1.68) per 100 person-years in comparison patients. After adjusting for patients' monthly income and geographic location, as well as for hypertension, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and coronary heart disease, stratified Cox proportional hazards regressions revealed a statistically significant hazard ratio for stroke in patients with conjunctival haemorrhage (HR = 1.33; 95% CI = 1.24-1.42, p < 0.001). Conclusions: In this study, patients with conjunctival haemorrhage were found to be at a significant risk of stroke during a 3-year follow-up period after diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims According to our knowledge, no study has attempted to explore the risk of urinary incontinence (UI) after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study aimed to examine the relationship between TBI in Taiwanese women and their risk of developing UI. Methods The study was based on 2,416 female patients newly diagnosed with TBI together with 12,080 matched enrollees without a history of TBI as a comparison group. All patients were tracked for a 1-year period from their index date to identify those who developed subsequent UI. The stratified Cox proportional hazards models were performed to compute the risk of UI between groups. Results Of 14,496 patients, 104 (4.30%) from the TBI group and 192 (1.59%) from the comparison group had a diagnosis of UI during the follow-up period. The incidence rate of UI was 4.50 (95% CI: 3.69-5.43) per 100 person-years in patients with TBI and 1.62 (95% CI: 1.40-1.86) per 100 person-years in patients without TBI. The stratified Cox proportional analysis showed that after adjusting for socioeconomic status, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and hysterectomy, the increased UI risk of patients with TBI persisted at about the same level as in the unadjusted analysis (hazard ratio = 2.78; 95% CI = 2.16-3.53). In addition, although patients with severe and moderate TBI had higher incidence rates of UI than patients with mild TBI, the difference did not reach a statistically significant level ( P = 0.090). Conclusions Our results suggest that an increased risk of UI exists at the first year follow-up in patients with a TBI diagnosis. Neurourol. Urodynam. 32: 354-358, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim This study set out to explore the association between obstructive sleep apnoea ( OSA) and prior chronic periodontitis ( CP) by utilizing a population-based data set with a case-control design in Taiwan. Materials and Methods We included 7673 subjects with OSA as cases, and randomly selected 21,963 subjects without a history of OSA as controls. We performed conditional logistic regression analyses to explore the association between OSA and having been previously diagnosed with CP. Results There was a significant difference in the prevalence of prior CP between cases and controls (33.8% versus 22.6%, p < 0.001). Conditional logistic regression analysis suggested that the odds ratio of prior CP for cases was 1.75 (95% CI = 1.68-1.88) times greater than that of controls after adjusting for monthly income and geographical location, as well as hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidaemia, obesity, tobacco use disorder, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and alcohol abuse. Conclusion Our study detected an association between OSA and a prior diagnosis of CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is one type of chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease. It has been suggested that rheumatic diseases may have additional underlying factors in common with chronic periodontitis. However, few studies have addressed the possible link between AS and chronic periodontitis. We undertook the present case-control study to investigate the possible association between AS and chronic periodontitis using a population-based data set in Taiwan. Methods We conducted this study by using administrative claims data sourced from the Taiwan National Health Insurance program database. Our study included 6,821 AS patients and 34,105 randomly selected controls. Conditional logistic regression analyses were performed to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for prior chronic periodontitis among AS patients and matched controls. Results There was a significant difference in the prevalence of prior chronic periodontitis between patients and controls (41.5% versus 25.9%; P < 0.001). Conditional logistic regression analysis revealed that patients were more likely than controls to have been previously diagnosed as having chronic periodontitis (adjusted OR 1.84 [95% CI 1.74-1.98]). We further found that patients were only 1.70 (95% CI 1.56-1.89) times more likely than controls to have undergone a gingivectomy or periodontal flap operation (all patients had a history of chronic periodontitis) within the 5 years preceding the index date. After excluding those who had undergone either a gingivectomy or periodontal flap surgery, patients were even more likely than controls to have been previously diagnosed as having chronic periodontitis (adjusted OR 2.04 [95% CI 1.93-2.15]). Conclusion This study detected an association between AS and a prior diagnosis of chronic periodontitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Type - Prognosis (cohort) Level of Evidence 2b What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Although early studies failed to detect an association between urinary calculi (UC) and subsequent cardiovascular risk, there is growing evidence among more recent research supporting this association with some studies more specifically suggesting that stroke is a major concern for UC sufferers. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, UC patients were more likely to have experienced a stroke then those without UC during the five-year follow-up period (hazard ratio = 1.43, 95% Cl = 1.35-1.50, P < 0.001). OBJECTIVE To examine in a population-based study the relationship between a history of nephrolithiasis and/or ureterolithiasis and the subsequent risk of stroke, as previous studies have shown that stone disease is associated with several cardiovascular risk factors. However, none of the studies that have investigated the relationship between urinary calculi (UC) and stroke were able to detect an association at a significant level., PATIENTS AND METHODS We used data sourced from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000., In all, 25 181 adult patients newly diagnosed with UC were recruited as a study cohort, along with 125 905 matched enrolees with no history of stone disease as a comparison cohort., All the subjects were tracked for a 5-year period beginning from their index ambulatory care visits, and those who subsequently had a stroke identified., Cox proportional hazards regressions were used to compare the risk of stroke between the study and comparison cohorts., RESULTS During the 5-year follow-up period, the incidence rate of stroke was 1.78 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.71-1.86) per 100 person-years in patients with UC and 1.25 (95% CI 1.22-1.27) per 100 person-years in patients without UC., After adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, cardiovascular disease, urbanization level, gout, and obesity, patients with UC were more likely to have had a stroke than those without UC during the 5-year follow-up period (hazard ratio 1.43, 95% CI 1.35-1.50, P < 0.001)., CONCLUSION Our results suggest that there is an increased risk of stroke during the first 5 years after a diagnosis of UC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although the etiology of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) remains unknown, there is increasing evidence suggesting an underlying cardiovascular pathomechanism. This study set out to explore a possible association between acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and having previously been diagnosed with SSNHL by using a population-based dataset with a case-control design. Methods: In this study, we utilized administrative claims data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance program to identify 48,674 cases with AMI and to randomly select 243,370 controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to explore the association between AMI and having previously been diagnosed with SSNHL. Results: Of the sampled patients, 1,313 (0.4%) had been diagnosed with SSNHL within 5 years before the index date; 340 (0.75% of the cases) were from the cases and 974 (0.4% of controls) were from the controls. After adjusting for patient geographic region, monthly income, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and coronary heart disease, conditional logistic regression analysis (conditioned on sex, age group, urbanization level, and index date) revealed that the odds ratio for prior SSNHL in patients with AMI was 1.50 (95% CI 1.30-1.70; p < 0.001) that of controls. We found that the adjusted odds ratio of prior hospitalization for the treatment of SSNHL for cases was 2.11 (95% CI 1.65-2.69; p < 0.001) times that of controls. Conclusions: This study identified a novel association between AMI and prior SSNHL. The results of this study highlight a need for clinicians dealing with SSNHL patients to be alert to their risk of subsequent AMI. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim This study set out to explore the possibility that chronic periodontitis ( CP) may also be a condition that could potentially result in secondary or symptomatic trigeminal neuralgia ( TN) by utilizing a population-based dataset and cohort study design in Taiwan. Materials and Methods We included 110,104 subjects with CP in our study cohort, and randomly selected 110,104 subjects without a history of CP as a comparison cohort. We individually tracked each patient in this study for a 5-year period to identify those who received a subsequent diagnosis of TN. Results The incidence rate of TN during the 5-year follow-up period was 4.40 (95% CI = 3.87-4.98) per 10,000 person-years for subjects with CP, and 2.60 (95% CI = 2.20-3.05) per 10,000 person-years in comparison subjects. Cox proportional analysis revealed that the adjusted hazard ratio ( HR) of TN during the 5-year follow-up period for subjects with CP was 1.65 (95% CI = 1.34-2.03) times higher than that of comparison subjects. However, the study subjects who had undergone a gingivectomy or periodontal flap operation did not have a higher adjusted risk of TN than comparison subjects ( HR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.54-1.61). Conclusion Our study detected a greater risk for TN among patients with CP than matched comparison subjects . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Type - Symptom prevalence (case control) Level of Evidence 3a What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? In recent years, a number of studies have reported a high prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) among patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). Several studies have reported that the prevalence of ED ranges from 15.0 to 40.5% in men in China with CP/CPPS; however, the previous studies focusing on the prevalence of ED among patients with CP/CPPS all neglected to explore the magnitude of this association. Our study found an association between ED and previously diagnosed CP/CPPS. The odds of previous CP/CPPS were 3.62 times greater for cases than for controls, after adjusting for patient socio-demographic characteristics, comorbidities, obesity, and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence syndrome. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between erectile dysfunction (ED) and a previous diagnosis of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) using a population-based dataset., PATIENTS AND METHODS The data for this case-control study was obtained from the National Health Insurance database., A total of 3194 males, who were ≥18 years of age when they first received a diagnosis of ED, were identified and 15 970 controls were randomly selected., The prevalence and risk of CP/CPPS among cases and controls were calculated by using conditional logistic regression analysis., RESULTS In total, 667 (3.5%) of the 19 164 sampled subjects had been diagnosed with CP/CPPS before the index date; CP/CPPS was found in 276 (8.6%) cases and in 391 (2.5%) controls ( P < 0.001)., Regression analysis indicated that cases were more likely to have had previous CP/CPPS (odd ratio 3.62, 95% confidence interval 3.07-4.26) after adjusting for patient monthly income, geographical location and urbanization level, as well as hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, renal disease, obesity and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence syndrome status, when compared with controls., CONCLUSIONS We conclude that there was an association between ED and having been previously diagnosed with CP/CPPS., Urologists should be alert to the association between CP/CPPS and ED, and assess the erectile function of patients suffering from CP/CPPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly affects young adults who may be sexually active, with sexual dysfunction being a significant, but often underestimated, symptom of MS. However, no large-scaled study has investigated the association between erectile dysfunction (ED) and MS in an Asian population to date. Objective. The objective of this study is to estimate the association between ED and a prior diagnosis of MS using a population-based dataset with a case-control design in Taiwan. Methods. The data were sourced from National Health Insurance Research Database. We identified 38,139 patients with ED as cases and randomly selected 262,848 subjects as controls. We then used conditional logistic regression to compute the odds ratio for having previously received a diagnosis of MS between cases and controls. Results. The prevalence of prior MS was 0.037% and 0.015% for cases and controls, respectively ( P < 0.001). Conditional logistic regression analysis revealed that cases were 2.23 times (95% confidence interval = 1.15-4.32) more likely to have been previously diagnosed with MS than controls after adjusting for monthly income, geographic location, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence syndromes. Conclusions. This study revealed an association between ED and prior MS even after adjusting for potential confounders. Keller JJ, Liang Y-C, and Lin H-C. Association between multiple sclerosis and erectile dysfunction: A nationwide case-control study. J Sex Med 2012;9:1770-1776. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To explore the association between chronic periodontitis (CP) and erectile dysfunction (ED) by using a nationwide, population-based dataset with a retrospective case-control design in Taiwan. Material and Methods We identified 32,856 patients with ED as cases and randomly selected 162,480 patients as controls. Conditional logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between ED and having been previously diagnosed with CP. Results Of the sampled patients 24,294 (12.3%) had been diagnosed with CP prior to the index date; this included 8825 cases (26.9% of the patients with ED) and 15,469 controls (9.4% of the comparison cohort). After adjusting for patient monthly income, age, geographic location, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, coronary heart disease, obesity, and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence syndrome, patients with ED were more likely to have been diagnosed with CP prior to the index date than controls (OR = 3.35, 95% CI = 3.25-3.45, p < 0.001). In addition, the association was much stronger among the population aged less than 30 years (OR = 4.54, 95% CI = 3.81-5.40) and the group aged over than 69 years (OR = 4.84, 95% CI = 4.35-5.39). Conclusions Our study demonstrated an association between ED and having been previously diagnosed with CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A large-scale population-based study on ophthalmic disorders among patients suffering from chronic renal failure (CRF) is lacking in the literature. This study examined the prevalence and risk of selected ocular co-morbidities (including retinal disorders, uveitis, glaucoma, cataract, and dry eye) in patients with CRF. Methods: Data were sourced from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. 9,149 patients with CRF were included in the study group, and 27,447 matched patients in the comparison group (age 40-98 years). We calculated the prevalence of retinal disorders, uveitis, glaucoma, cataract, and dry eye for patients with and without CRF. Conditional logistic regression analyses were also performed to compare the risk of ophthalmic disorders for patients with and without CRF, after taking into consideration sex, age group, diabetes, hypertension, monthly income, geographic region, and level of urbanization of the patient's community. Results: In this study, patients with CRF had significantly higher prevalence of retinal disorders (16.62% vs. 9.70%), uveitis (1.38% vs. 0.95%), glaucoma (7.56% vs. 5.70%), and cataract (33.08% vs. 28.90%) than patients without CRF (all p < 0.001). However, no significant difference was observed in the prevalence of dry eye between these two groups. After adjusting for potential confounders, patients with CRF had higher odds of retinal disorder (odds ratio, OR, 1.84, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.72-1.98), uveitis (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.07-1.66), glaucoma (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.23-1.48), and cataract (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.18-1.31) than patients without CRF. Conclusion: We conclude that patients with CRF had a significantly higher prevalence of retinal disorders, uveitis, glaucoma, and cataract compared with patients without CRF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Using a 10-year nationwide data set, we examined seasonal variability in the monthly incidence of testicular torsion in Taiwan. We also investigated the association between meteorological factors (ambient temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, rainfall and total hours of sunshine) and testicular torsion, stratified by age group. Materials and Methods: This study retrieved data from the National Health Insurance Research Database. We identified 1,782 hospitalizations for testicular torsion between 2000 and 2009. Spearman''s rank correlation was used to explore possible associations between climatic parameters and the monthly incidence of testicular torsion. In addition, we used the ARIMA method (Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average) to test for seasonality in the incidence of testicular torsion. Results: The results demonstrated a fairly similar seasonal pattern in monthly incidence rates for testicular torsion across both age groups and the combined groups. January (midwinter) had the highest rates, which decreased in April to a trough in June (early summer). After adjusting for the time trend effect and climatic parameters, the ARIMA regression revealed that January had a significantly higher monthly incidence of testicular torsion compared to February. In addition, our results indicated that the monthly incidence of testicular torsion was negatively associated with ambient temperature. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the monthly incidence of testicular torsion was significantly associated with seasonality and ambient temperature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: This case-control study aimed to estimate the association between erectile dysfunction (ED) and migraines using a nationwide population-based database in Taiwan.Methods: The data used for this matched case-control study were retrieved from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. We identified 5763 patients with ED as the cases and randomly selected 17,289 patients as the controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios (OR) for prior migraine between cases and controls.Results: After adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, renal disease, coronary heart disease, obesity, and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence syndrome, conditional logistic regression revealed that among ED patients the odds of having been previously diagnosed with migraines was 1.63 (95% CI, 1.39–1.91) that of the control group. This risk was more pronounced in younger groups, with the highest risk being detected among those aged between 30 and 39 years. After adjusting for the above mentioned comorbidities, ED patients aged between 30 and 39 years were found to be at 1.98 (95% CI, 1.67–2.23) times the risk of controls for having been previously diagnosed with migraines.Conclusion: We conclude that ED is associated with having been previously diagnosed with migraines, particularly in younger populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Conclusion: There is no increased risk for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) among people who have experienced a recent herpes zoster attack, compared with a matching population. Objective: The pathogenesis of SSNHL remains unknown, but viral infection is considered to be one of the main causes. The objective of this case-cohort study was to investigate the frequency and risk for SSNHL following a recent herpes zoster attack in the general population. Methods: We extracted 313 612 patients with herpes zoster from a nationwide health registry in Taiwan, and also randomly selected 313 612 matched control subjects. Each participant was individually tracked for 2 months from their index ambulatory care visit to identify those who developed SSNHL. Stratified Cox proportional hazard regressions were conducted to analyze the risk of SSNHL for the sampled patients. Results: Of the sample of 627 224 patients, 121 (0.02%) had SSNHL during the 2-month follow-up period, 59 from the study group (0.02% of the herpes zoster patients) and 62 from the comparison group (0.02% of patients without herpes zoster). Regression analysis revealed no increased adjusted hazard of SSNHL during the 2-month follow-up period for patients with herpes zoster as compared to those without (hazard ratio = 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.63-1.28, p = 0.540) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Introduction. Psoriasis is associated with systemic metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, both of which share risk factors with erectile dysfunction (ED). However, few studies have investigated the association between ED and psoriasis. Aim. This study set out to estimate the association between ED and having previously been diagnosed with psoriasis by using a population-based dataset with a case-control design. Methods. This study used administrative claim data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance program. We identified 4,606 patients with ED as the study group and randomly selected 13,818 patients as the comparison group. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine the association between ED and having previously received a diagnosis of psoriasis. Main Outcome Measure. The prevalence and risk of psoriasis between cases and controls were calculated. Results. Of the sampled patients, 136 (0.7%) had been diagnosed with psoriasis before the index date: 77 (1.7% of the cases) were from the study group and 59 (0.4% of controls) were from the control group. Conditional logistic regression analysis revealed that after adjusting for the patient's monthly income, geographic location, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, obesity, and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence syndrome status, patients with ED were more likely to have been diagnosed with psoriasis before the index date than controls (odds ratio = 3.85; 95% confidence interval = 2.72-5.44). Conclusions. There was an association between ED and prior psoriasis. The results of this study highlight a need for clinicians dealing with psoriasis patients to be alert to the development of ED. Chung S-D, Keller JJ, Chu TW, and Lin H-C. Psoriasis and the risk of erectile dysfunction: A population-based case-control study. J Sex Med 2012;9:130-135. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the seasonal variability of retinal detachment (RD) in Taiwan by using an 11-yr nationwide population database. This study also investigated the association of weather conditions, i.e., ambient temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, monthly hours of sunshine, and atmospheric pressure, with RD. Data were retrospectively collected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The study sample included 23 718 RD hospitalizations between January 1999 and December 2009. The incidence rate of RD//100 000 people over the 132 months was computed according to sex and age groupings of <20, 20-39, 40-59, and ≥60 yrs. Then, the association between climatic factors and the monthly RD incidence rate was examined. The ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) method was also employed to test the seasonality of RD incidence rates and their association with climatic factors. The annual RD incidence rates were between 7.8 and 10.8 cases//100 000 people during the study period. A fairly similar seasonal pattern of monthly RD incidence rates was apparent for males and females and males and females combined. Rates were highest August through October, decreasing in November, and lowest in February. After adjusting for time, trend, and month, the ARIMA regression models for the male, female, and males and females combined consistently revealed the monthly RD incidence rate was significantly and positively associated with ambient temperature, but negatively associated with atmospheric pressure. The authors conclude that the monthly RD incidence rates were significantly associated with seasonality. The monthly RD incidence rates were positively associated with ambient temperature and negatively associated with atmospheric pressure. (Author correspondence: ) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study investigated the risk of subsequent depressive disorders (DD) following a diagnosis of urinary calculi (UC) in Taiwan. In total, 67,917 adult patients newly diagnosed with UC were recruited, along with 153,951 age-matched enrollees who were used as a comparison group. A stratified Cox proportional hazard regression analysis revealed that the adjusted hazard of DD within a 1-year period following diagnosis with UC was 1.75 times greater for patients with UC than for comparison patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

ABSTRACT Introduction. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is usually associated with systemic disorders. This population-based study supports and expands on previous research. It also presents data in a Taiwanese male population where existing data on this topic remain sparse. Aim. The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence and risk of 36 medical comorbidities in patients with ED compared with the general population. Methods. A total of 2,213 patients with ED and 11,065 matching controls were selected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset. We chose 22 comorbidities from the Elixhauser comorbidity index, 10 highly prevalent medical conditions in an Asian population, and four male gender-specific comorbidities for analysis. Main Outcome Measurement. Conditional logistic regression analyses conditioned on age group and monthly income were performed to investigate the risk of various comorbidities for patients with and without ED, after adjusting for the geographic region and level of urbanization of the patient's community. Results. Patients with ED were at an increased risk for multiple systemic comorbidities. Conditional regression analyses showed that patients with ED were at a higher risk for hypertrophy of the prostate (odds ratio [OR] = 12.87), chronic prostatitis (OR = 9.36), alcohol abuse (OR = 3.60), drug abuse (OR = 2.62), urinary incontinence (OR = 2.58), ankylosing spondylitis (OR = 2.19), peripheral vascular disorder (OR = 1.98), ischemic heart disease (OR = 1.94), psychoses (OR = 1.97), depression (OR = 1.88), uncomplicated diabetes (OR = 1.91), complicated diabetes (OR = 1.84), hepatitis B or C (OR = 1.71), hyperlipidemia (OR = 1.69), and chronic pulmonary disease (OR = 1.55) than patients without ED. Conclusion. The results show that patients with ED have a higher prevalence of multiple noncardiovascular comorbidities than the general population in Taiwan. Chung S-D, Chen Y-K, Kang, J-H, Keller JJ, Huang C-C, and Lin H-C. Population-based estimates of medical comorbidities in erectile dysfunction in a Taiwanese population. J Sex Med **;**:**-**. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: In previous studies, benign prostatic enlargement (BPE) and urinary tract symptoms were demonstrated to be associated with depressive symptoms. However, no longitudinal follow-up study to date has evaluated the relationship between BPE and the subsequent risk of developing depressive disorder. This nationwide, population-based study aimed to prospectively examine the relationship between a history of BPE and the risk of developing depressive disorder. Materials and methods: A total of 16,130 adult patients diagnosed with BPE for the first time between 2005 and 2007 were recruited along with a comparison cohort of 48,390 matched enrollees without a history of BPE. All the subjects were tracked for a one-year period following their index date to identify those who subsequently developed a depressive disorder. The Cox proportional hazards model was utilized to compute the risk difference for depressive disorder between cohorts. Results: Of 64,520 sampled patients, 325 (2.01%) from the BPE cohort, and 531 (1.10%) from the comparison cohort were subsequently diagnosed with depressive disorder during the follow-up period. The risk of developing depressive disorder within one-year following diagnosis with BPE was found to be 1.87 (95% CI=1.63–2.16, p <0.001) times the risk in absence of BPE after adjusting for the patients'' monthly income, and the geographical location and urbanization level of their place of residence. Conclusions: Our results suggest that patients with BPE are at an increased risk for contracting depressive disorder. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]