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Purpose: To investigate whether patients with thyroid disease are at increased risk of uveitis.Methods: Data was collected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance system and included patients newly diagnosed with thyroid disease from 2000 to 2012. The endpoint of interest was a diagnosis of uveitis.Results: In analyzing 21,396 patients with thyroid disease, yielding 85,584 matched comparisons, patients with thyroid disease to have a significantly higher cumulative incidence of uveitis when compared to the control cohort with the Kaplan-Meier analysis. This result was further confirmed by Cox regression analysis. The increased risk was persistent in both genders. The association between thyroid disease and uveitis was stronger in patients without diabetes or hypertension.Conclusion: Patients with thyroid disease were found to have a higher risk for uveitis. For certain age groups or patients without diabetes or hypertension, the role of thyroid disease might be more crucial for uveitis development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodontitis is a multifactorial inflammatory disease that can cause tooth loss and contribute to systemic inflammation. It is suggested that periodontitis may be associated with the development of glaucoma. Based on data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, a retrospective cohort study was conducted to investigate the risk of developing glaucoma in patients with periodontitis. The periodontitis cohort consisted of newly diagnosed adult patients (n = 194,090, minimum age = 20 years) between 2000 and 2012. The comparison group included age-, gender-, and diagnosis date-matched people without periodontitis (n = 194,090, minimum age = 20 years). Incident glaucoma was monitored until the end of 2013. Hazard ratios (HRs) with confidence intervals (CIs) were established based on the Cox proportional hazard models. The risk of developing glaucoma was higher in patients with periodontitis than those without periodontitis (31.2 vs. 23.3 patients per 10,000 person-years, with an adjusted HR of 1.26 [95% CI 1.21–1.32]). A high risk was evident even after stratifying by age (adjusted HRs = 1.34 [1.26–1.44] for ages 20–49, 1.24 [1.13–1.36] for ages ≥ 65, and 1.20 [1.12–1.29] for ages 50–64 years), sex (adjusted HRs = 1.33 [1.24–1.41] and 1.21 [1.14–1.28] for men and women, respectively), presence of comorbidity (adjusted HRs = 1.38 [1.29–1.47] and 1.18 [1.12–1.25] for without and with comorbidity, respectively), and corticosteroid use (adjusted HRs = 1.27 [1.21–1.33] and 1.21 [1.08–1.35] for without and with corticosteroid use, respectively). Specifically, patients with periodontitis exhibited a significantly high risk of primary open-angle glaucoma (adjusted HR = 1.31 [1.21–1.32]) but not for primary closed-angle glaucoma (adjusted HR = 1.05 [0.94–1.17]). People with periodontitis are at a greater risk of glaucoma than individuals without periodontitis. Ocular health should be emphasized for such patients, and the underlying mechanisms need further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early-onset cataracts (EOC) are associated with an increased inflammatory response; therefore, a potential risk of other inflammatory diseases, like peptic ulcer, may be related. This study investigated the risk of peptic ulcer after being diagnosed with EOC. Retrospective claims data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were analyzed. Study subjects comprised patients with EOC (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification [ICD-9- CM] codes 366.00, 366.01, 366.02, 366.03, 366.04, 366.09, 366.17 and 366.18), aged 20–55 years and newly diagnosed between 2000 and 2010 (n = 1910), and a comparison cohort without the disease (n = 7515). Both cohorts were followed up until 2010 to estimate the incidences of peptic ulcer. We used the Poisson regression model to compare incidence rate ratios and the 95% confidence interval (CI). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the hazard ratio (HR) of peptic ulcer associated with EOC. The overall incidence rate of peptic ulcer was higher in the EOC cohort than in the comparison cohort (10.3 vs 7.68 per 1000 person-years) with an adjusted HR of 1.33 (95% CI = 1.05, 1.69). The present study suggests that patients with EOC are at an increased risk of being diagnosed with peptic ulcer in subsequent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]