Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; blood ; epidemiology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis C ; blood ; epidemiology ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; blood ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTIONThe objective of this study was to explore the association between thrombocytopenia and its related factors.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThis was a hospital-based, cross-sectional study. We retrospectively analysed the medical records of all patients who received periodic health examinations at a medical centre located at Taichung in Taiwan between 2000 and 2004. In all, 5585 subjects were included for further analysis. A complete physical examination, laboratory survey and abdominal ultrasonography were performed on each subject. The t-test, chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used.

RESULTSThe subjects consisted of 3123 men (55.9%) and 2462 women (44.1%). The mean age was 49.4 +/- 12.3 years (range, 20 to 87). The overall prevalence of thrombocytopenia was found to be 0.5%, higher in men than in women (0.6% vs 0.4%, P = 0.504). After controlling for the other covariates, multivariate logistic regression analysis exhibited that the factors significantly related to thrombocytopenia were increasing age (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.004-1.08), anti-HCV positive (OR, 5.24; 95% CI, 2.08-13.20), liver cirrhosis (OR, 7.93; 95% CI, 2.28-27.62), and splenomegaly (OR, 18.86; 95% CI, 6.86-51.87).

CONCLUSIONIt is advisable to further check the hepatic status, if thrombocytopenia is noted.

Academic Medical Centers ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Hepatitis C Antibodies ; blood ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; complications ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; complications ; epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; Splenomegaly ; complications ; epidemiology ; Taiwan ; epidemiology ; Thrombocytopenia ; complications ; epidemiology ; Young Adult

At the 73rd Academic Conference of the Japan Society for Oriental Medicine held in June 2023, a report on an establishment of evidence for the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was presented. As part of this project, we reported how we conducted the observational study and the clinical trial that evaluated the effectiveness of Kampo medicine on the acute symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. In this article, we have summarized our experience in these studies from the viewpoint of a statistician, including important things to be considered when writing a research plan and selecting endpoints and statistical analysis methods.

BACKGROUNDCongenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) is an ion channelopathy associated with genetic mutations. It is well known that most LQTS patients (91%) have a single mutation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of congenital LQTS patients with bigenic mutations in Taiwan, China.

METHODSCongenital LQTS patients were recruited consecutively at Taiwan University Hospital in Taiwan from 2003 to 2009. The diagnosis of LQTS was defined by an LQTS Schwartz score greater than 4. Mutation screening in KCNQ1, KCNH2, KCNE1, and SCN5A was performed using direct sequencing.

RESULTSThree of 16 LQTS patients (18.7%) were identified with bigenic mutations. One patient had missense mutations in KCNQ1 and KCNH2, the second in KCNQ1 and KCNE1, and the third in KCNH2 and SCN5A. The mean age at onset of LQTS for patients with bigenic mutations was (17 ± 3) years, and all of these patients were female. Two of them experienced seizure and one presented with syncope, although one of them had a family history of syncope. The mean QTc interval was (515 ± 17) ms, similar to those with single mutation or SNPs ((536 ± 74) ms, P = 0.63). Compared to those LQTS patients with single mutation or SNPs, a significantly higher percentage of LQTS patients with bigenic mutations presented with seizure and were younger at onset of the first index event (P = 0.03 and 0.001, respectively), but lower percentage of them presented with sudden cardiac death (P = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONSAlthough the percentage of bigenic mutations in LQTS is less than 10% in Caucasian populations, we identified 3 of 16 LQTS patients (18.7%, 95% confidence interval: 0.04-0.46) with bigenic mutations in Taiwan. However, the severity of their clinical presentations was not higher than those patients with single mutation or SNPs.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; ERG1 Potassium Channel ; Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels ; genetics ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; KCNQ1 Potassium Channel ; genetics ; Long QT Syndrome ; genetics ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; NAV1.5 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics ; Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated ; genetics ; Young Adult