Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there is an association between Parkinson’s disease (PD) and colorectal cancer in Taiwan. Methods: This was a case-control study using claim data of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 64,619 subjects aged 20-84 with newly diagnosed colorectal cancer as cases and 64,619 randomly selected subjects without colorectal cancer as controls from 2005 to 2011. Both cases and controls were matched by sex, age, comorbidities, and index year of diagnosing colorectal cancer. Subjects who were diagnosed with PD within 5 years of diagnosing colorectal cancer were excluded. The multivariable logistic regression model was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for risk of colorectal cancer associated with PD. Results: After adjusting for confounding factors, the multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the adjusted OR of colorectal cancer was 0.69 for subjects with PD more than 5 years before index date (95% CI 0.59, 0.81), as compared with subjects without PD. Conclusion: PD is associated with reduced odds of colorectal cancer. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying our findings.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between Parkinson’s disease and pancreatic cancer in Taiwan. Methods: This was a case-control study using claim data of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 13,861 subjects aged 20- 84 with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer as cases and 55,444 randomly selected subjects without pancreatic cancer as controls from 1998 to 2011. Cases and controls were matched by sex, age and index year of diagnosing pancreatic cancer. The association of pancreatic cancer with Parkinson’s disease was evaluated by the multivariable logistic regression model to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: After adjusting for confounding factors including acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, biliary stone, alcoholism, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, the multivariable logistic regression analysis showed the adjusted OR of pancreatic cancer was 0.82 for subjects with Parkinson’s disease (95% CI 0.55, 1.21), as compared with subjects without Parkinson’s disease. Conclusion: No association is detected between Parkinson’s disease and pancreatic cancer.
Parkinson Disease ; Pancreatic Neoplasms

INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this study was to explore whether diabetes mellitus (DM) correlates with the risk of kidney cancer in Taiwan.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe designed a population-based case-control study from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database, which consisted of 116 patients with newly diagnosed kidney cancer as cases and 464 subjects without kidney cancer as controls in 2000 to 2009. Both cases and controls were aged ≥20 years. Baseline comorbidities were compared between kidney cancer cases and controls.

RESULTSMultivariable analysis showed no association was detected between DM and kidney cancer (OR 1.06, 95% CI, 0.58 to 1.94). Hypertension (OR 2.05, 95% CI, 1.23 to 3.42), chronic kidney diseases (OR 2.57, 95% CI, 1.23 to 5.37), cystic kidney diseases (OR 18.6, 95% CI, 1.84 to 187.6) and kidney stones (OR 4.02, 95% CI, 2.43 to 6.66) were significant comorbidities associated with increased risk of kidney cancer. Use of alpha-glucosidase inhibitor was associated with increased risk of kidney cancer (OR 4.31, 95% CI, 1.07 to 17.3).

CONCLUSIONDM does not correlate with the risk of kidney cancer. Hypertension, chronic kidney diseases, cystic kidney diseases, kidney stones and use of alpha-glucosidase inhibitors are associated with kidney cancer.

Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; etiology ; Case-Control Studies ; Diabetes Complications ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Kidney Neoplasms ; etiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors

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

Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Fatal Outcome ; Humans ; Liver ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Splenectomy ; Splenic Diseases ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed