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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]

Background: To evaluate the efficacy of micro-incision vitrectomy surgery using a non-contact wide-angle viewing system for fovea-attached type epiretinal membrane, and to report the factors influencing the outcome. Methods: A retrospective, comparative case series that included 50 patients with fovea-attached type epiretinal membrane who received micro-incision vitrectomy surgery using a non-contact wide-angle viewing system. Results: All patients were followed-up for a minimum of 12 months. Seven cases were classified as group 1A (mainly outer retinal thickening), 17 were group 1B (more tenting of outer retina and distorted inner retina), and 26 were group 1C (prominent inner retina thickening and inward tenting of outer retina). Outcome measures included operation time, recurrent rate, postoperative BCVA, and CRT. The mean operative time was 26.2 minutes. The mean change of BCVA (LogMAR) was − 0.43 (p< 0.001). The mean change of CRT was 135.3 μm (p< 0.001). The mean change of CRT was significantly higher in group 1C. Worse preoperative BCVA, male gender, and longer operative time can predict better postoperative BCVA found by multivariate logistic regression and multiple regression models. Conclusion: Significant improvement in BCVA and CRT is noted after micro-incision vitrectomy surgery to operate fovea-attached type epiretinal membranes. Worse preoperative BCVA, male, and longer operation time could predict better improvement. These findings may assist surgeons in better evaluating the potential of this method to help their patients with epiretinal membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to investigate the association between early-onset cataract and tinnitus using a population-based database.Methods: Retrospective claims data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were analysed. Study subjects comprised patients with early-onset cataract, aged 20-55 years and diagnosed between 2000 and 2010 (n = 2084) and a comparison cohort without the disease (n = 8336). Both cohorts were followed until 2010 to estimate the incidence of tinnitus. To calculate the risk of tinnitus in the case and control groups, Cox proportional hazards models were used and presented as hazard ratios (HRs), adjusted HRs (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Patients with early-onset cataract had 1.53-fold increased risk (HR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.17-2.01, p < 0.01) of developing tinnitus than controls. The number of patients with vertigo (p < 0.0001), insomnia (p < 0.0001), anxiety (p < 0.0001) and hearing loss (p < 0.0001) as comorbidities was also significantly higher in the case group. After adjusting for age, sex and all listed comorbidities, patients with increasing age (aHR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.02-1.07), early-onset cataract (aHR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.01-1.74), vertigo (aHR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.15-2.67), insomnia (aHR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.14-1.93) and hearing loss (aHR = 6.20, 95% CI = 3.58-10.70) had significantly higher risk of tinnitus.Conclusions: Patients with early-onset cataract are at an increased risk of developing tinnitus in subsequent years and should receive further evaluation for early diagnosis and management if any signs of tinnitus occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]