BACKGROUND:
Whether patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) exhibit a higher risk of developing acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains debatable.
METHODS:
From the inpatient claims of Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 11,822 patients with IBD symptoms in the 1998-2010 period and 47,288 control patients without the disorder, frequency matched by age, sex, and admission year. Both cohorts were followed-up until the end of 2010 to estimate the risk of ACS.
RESULTS:
The incidence of ACS was 87% higher in the patients with IBD than in the control patients (5.76 versus 3.08 per 1000 person-years). The multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model measured adjusted hazard ratios of ACS at 1.72 (95% confidence interval, 1.53-1.94) for the patients with IBD. The age-specific data showed that the adjusted hazard ratio for patients with IBD, compared with control patients, was the highest for the 20- to 39-year age group, at 3.28 (95% confidence interval, 1.73-6.22), which decreased to 1.70 (95% confidence interval, 1.45-1.99). Patients with IBD who, on average, required 2 or more hospitalization per year were nearly 20-fold more likely to have ACS than those who required 1 hospitalization per year (80.7 versus 4.10 per 1000 person-years).
CONCLUSIONS:
The absolute risk of ACS increases sharply with age for patients with IBD, but young patients are at greater relative risk for the consequence. The risk of ACS was proportional to the severity of IBD. Careful follow-up observation and effective therapy should be sought for patients with IBD to reduce the risk of ACS.
OBJECTIVE:
To estimate the risk of head injury or fracture requiring hospitalization in patients treated with zolpidem.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
We identified 8188 patients 18 years and older who had received a first prescription for zolpidem between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2009, and compared them with 32,752 age- and sex-matched patients who had not used sedative-hypnotic agents. Both cohorts were followed up for at least 1 year or until hospitalization for head injury or fracture (major injury). Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs were calculated by comparing the incidence of major injury requiring hospitalization between the zolpidem user and comparison cohorts, including age groups 18 to 54 and 55 years or more, using a Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.
RESULTS:
The adjusted HR for major injury in zolpidem users was 1.67 (95% CI, 1.19-2.34). The adjusted HR for major injury in zolpidem users in the younger cohort (aged 18-54 years) was 1.70 (95% CI, 1.15-2.51) and in the older cohort (aged ≥55 years) was 1.57 (95% CI, 0.78-3.13). The adjusted HR for major injury in zolpidem users increased when the zolpidem dosage increased (HR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.32-3.13 for 71-800 mg/y; HR, 4.37; 95% CI, 2.12-9.01 for 801-1600 mg/y; and HR, 4.74; 95% CI, 2.38-9.42 for >1600 mg/y).
CONCLUSION:
The long-term use of zolpidem is associated with a significantly greater risk of head injury or fracture requiring hospitalization than in patients who do not use sedative-hypnotic agents (P<.001), particularly in the younger (aged 18-54 years) patients.
There are conflicting reports on cancer risk associated with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). This retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the risk of cancer development in patients who received ACE inhibitors/ARBs as treatment for essential hypertension. Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 297,688 eligible study patients with essential hypertension were identified. According to their antihypertensive prescriptions, the study patients were stratified into an ACE inhibitor group, an ARB group, or a control group. After matching, participants were observed for the occurrence of cancer. In the ACE inhibitor group compared with the control group, the hazard ratio was 0.51 (95% confidence interval, 0.39-0.68). In the ARB group compared with the control group, the hazard ratio was 0.8 (95% confidence interval, 0.65-0.97). Regular use of ACE inhibitors/ARBs was not associated with an increased risk of cancer development and was actually found to decrease overall cancer risk in this study.
There are conflicting reports on cancer risk associated with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). This retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the risk of cancer development in patients who received ACE inhibitors/ARBs as treatment for essential hypertension. Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 297,688 eligible study patients with essential hypertension were identified. According to their antihypertensive prescriptions, the study patients were stratified into an ACE inhibitor group, an ARB group, or a control group. After matching, participants were observed for the occurrence of cancer. In the ACE inhibitor group compared with the control group, the hazard ratio was 0.51 (95% confidence interval, 0.39-0.68). In the ARB group compared with the control group, the hazard ratio was 0.8 (95% confidence interval, 0.65-0.97). Regular use of ACE inhibitors/ARBs was not associated with an increased risk of cancer development and was actually found to decrease overall cancer risk in this study.
BACKGROUND:
Morphine is widely used for pain management in cancer patients. Use of heroin, a morphine derivative, is a risk factor for acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
OBJECTIVE:
This study investigates the risk of ACS associated with morphine use by comparing the incidence of ACS in cancer patients treated with and without morphine.
METHODS:
This is a population-based nested case-control study using the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 in Taiwan. In total, 31,384 patients on the database were diagnosed with cancer without prior history of ACS during 1998-2010. In this cohort, 499 patients subsequently developed ACS and 30,885 patients did not. The 499 patients were designated as the ACS group; controls were selected from the remaining 30,885 patients and matched 3:1 to each case for age, sex, year of cancer diagnosis, and index year. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, and the multivariable model was applied to control for age, sex, and Charlson comorbidity score.
RESULTS:
Cancer patients who received morphine had a 32% higher risk of developing ACS than non-morphine users. This increase in risk was significant when evaluating the overall cancer patients, but non-significant when evaluating any specific cancer type. The risk of ACS increased significantly with increasing morphine dosage (to ≥65 mg/y).
CONCLUSION:
Morphine treatment is associated with a modest increase in risk of ACS in patients with malignancy, but this association displays low significance in specific cancer types.