BACKGROUND:

Studies on the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccination in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients are limited. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccination in reducing morbidity and mortality in incident end-stage renal disease patients on PD.

METHODS:

From Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 2089 incident PD patients with seasonal influenza vaccination and 2089 propensity score matched incident PD patients without the vaccination during 1998-2010. Each studysubject was followed up to measure the 12-month incident cardiovascular and infectious diseases, and deaths. The effects of multi-year vaccinations were also estimated.

RESULTS:

Compared with the non-vaccinated cohort, the vaccinated cohort had a lower hospitalization rate (68.5 versus 80.2 per 100 person-years) with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 0.85 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.78-0.92]. Hazards of hospitalization were significantly reduced for sepsis (aHR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.65-0.96), heart disease (aHR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.63-0.89) and intensive care (aHR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.73-0.99). In addition, hazards of peritonitis (aHR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.73-0.97) and overall mortality (aHR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.55-0.78) were also reduced. The aHR of mortality was reduced much further to 0.28 (95% CI = 0.22-0.35) for those with multiple-year vaccinations.

CONCLUSIONS:

Seasonal influenza vaccination for PD patients is associated with significant reduction in morbidities and a 34% reduction in mortality. Multi-year vaccinations could reduce the death hazard further to 72%.

BACKGROUND:

We aimed to evaluate whether patients with diabetes who use dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors are at a higher risk of developing a herpes zoster (HZ) infection.

METHODS:

We used a subset of the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 containing all inpatient and outpatient medical claims of ∼1 million people who were randomly sampled from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients who were newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM 250.x0 and 250.x2) who used antidiabetic medications were divided into two cohorts based on their use of DPP-4 inhibitors between 2009 and 2011. Cox proportion hazard regression models were used to assess the effects of DPP-4 inhibitors on the incidence of HZ compared with the non-DPP-4-inhibitor-exposed cohort.

RESULTS:

Patients in DPP-4-inhibitor-exposed cohort with diabetes and HZ infections revealed an incidence density of 4.20 per 1000 person-years compared with 3.50 per 1000 person-years for the non-DPP-4-inhibitor-exposed cohort (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.70-1.99). Furthermore, high-dose DPP-4-inhibitor treatment was associated with a significantly higher risk of HZ (adjusted HR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.16-5.19 for a defined daily dose [DDD] ≥ 360). In addition, short-term DPP-4-inhibitor treatment was associated with a significantly higher risk of HZ (adjusted HR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.03-4.04 for a DDD ≥ 360 days).

CONCLUSION:

These results suggest that Asian patients with diabetes who use short-term DPP-4 inhibitors might be at a higher risk of developing HZ.

BACKGROUND:

There is still lack of definite evidence to establish the association between sitagliptin use and acute pancreatitis. Thestudy aimed to test this issue in Taiwan.

METHODS:

This case-control study was designed to analyze the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 349 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged 20-84 with a first-attack of acute pancreatitis from 2009 to 2011 as the case group and 1116 randomly selected subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus without acute pancreatitis as the control group. Both groups were matched with sex, age, comorbidities, and index year of diagnosing acute pancreatitis. Current use of sitagliptin was defined as subjects who had their last tablet of sitagliptin ≤7 days before the date of diagnosing acute pancreatitis. Late use of sitagliptin was defined as subjects who had their last tablet of sitagliptin between 8 and 30 days before the date of diagnosing acute pancreatitis. Never use of sitagliptin was defined as subjects who never had a sitagliptin prescription. The risk of acute pancreatitis associated with sitagliptin use was estimated by the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using the multivariable logistic regression model.

RESULTS:

After statistical correction for potential confounders, the adjusted OR of acute pancreatitis was 2.47 for subjects with current use of sitagliptin (95% CI 0.84, 7.28), when compared with those never using sitagliptin, but without statistical significance. The adjusted OR decreased to 1.14 for subjects with late use of sitagliptin (95% CI 0.66, 1.98), but without statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS:

No significant association is detected between sitagliptin use and acute pancreatitis in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Copyright © 2015 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND:

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can result in substantial sensorimotor and autonomic dysfunctions and an adverse prognosis. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with chronic SCI.

OBJECTIVE:

We conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate the association between atrial fibrillation (AF) and SCI.

METHODS:

Using the National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 41,691 patients without a history of AF who were newly hospitalized for SCI between 2000 and 2011. The comparison group included 166,724 patients without AF or SCI who were matched to the SCI group according to age, sex, and index year at a ratio of 4:1. Both cohorts were followed up until the end of 2011, and the cumulative incidence of AF was calculated. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models and Kaplan-Meier curve analysis were used to compare differences in the cumulative incidence of AF between the 2 groups.

RESULTS:

During the mean follow-up periods of 5.69 years for the SCI group and 6.17 years for the non-SCI group, the overall incidence rates were 2.70 and 1.99 cases per 1000 person-years, respectively (crude hazard ratio 1.36; 95% confidence interval 1.24-1.48). After adjusting for age, sex, and all comorbidities, the risk of AF remained significantly higher in the SCI group than in the non-SCI group (adjusted hazard ratio 1.28; 95% confidence interval 1.17-1.40).

CONCLUSION:

SCI is associated with an increased risk of AF in a long-term follow-up period.

Splenectomy may be necessary to treat systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with thrombocytopenia; however, whether performing a splenectomy on patients without SLE increases the subsequent risk of SLE remains unknown. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the association between splenectomy and SLE. We conducted a cohort study by using data from the Taiwan National Health Institute Research Database to identify 10,298 patients with received a splenectomy between 2000 and 2006 and 41,192 participants without received a splenectomy who were selected by frequency matched based on sex, age, and the index year. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) of developing SLE associated with splenectomy compared with patients who did not receive a splenectomy. During the study period, the overall incidence density rate of SLE was higher in the splenectomy cohort than in the non-splenectomy cohort (adjusted HR 10.55; 95 % CI 50.55-20.05). The incidence density rates of SLE in women and men who received a splenectomy were higher than those of patients who did not receive a splenectomy. Non-traumatic splenectomy increases the subsequent risk of SLE. The risk of SLE should be considered before performing a splenectomy, particularly in women and younger patients.