Survival Analysis of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Study Based on Data from the Korean National Health Insurance Services’ Senior Cohort Database / 가정의학회지

Background@#Korea’s rapidly aging population has experienced a sharp rise in the prevalence of dementia. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is estimated to be about three-quarters of all patients with dementia, tend to have higher mortality rates compared with patients without Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, a survival analysis of patients with AD was conducted in order to provide knowledge to those who provide medical care to these patients. @*Methods@#Data on individuals over 65 years old in 2004 were extracted from the Korean National Health Insurance Services’ Senior Cohort database (2002–2013). The subjects were 209,254 patients, including 2,695 who were first diagnosed with AD (the AD group) and 206,559 that had not been diagnosed with the disease (non-AD group). To investigate the independent effect of AD on survival, the Cox proportional-hazards model, hazard ratios (confidence interval of 95%), and the Kaplan-Meier method were used. @*Results@#Mean survival time in the AD group was 5.3±3.3 years, which was about 2.5 years shorter than that in the non-AD group (7.8±2.4 years). The mortality rate in the AD group (66.3%) was higher than that in the non-AD group (26.3%). The adjusted hazard ratio in the AD group was 2.5 and, therefore, it was found that the AD group had a 2.5-fold higher risk of death than the non-AD group. @*Conclusion@#Overall, AD has a large, independent impact on survival. Survival time was shorter, and the mortality rate and risk were generally higher in the AD group, compared with the non-AD group.

The Impact of Depression on Cardiovascular Disease: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study in Korean Elderly / 가정의학회지

Background@#Depression is suggested to be associated with cardiovascular disease, including ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. This study investigated the impact of depression on cardiovascular disease in the elderly population in Korea. @*Methods@#This retrospective cohort study was performed using the Senior Cohort database released by the Korean National Health Insurance Services from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2012, or January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2013. The study group constituted participants newly diagnosed with depression, but not cardiovascular disease. The control group constituted participants with no past history of depression or cardiovascular disease, and were not diagnosed with depression during the follow-up period. During the 5-year follow-up period, development of ischemic heart disease or cerebrovascular disease was assessed. Depression and cardiovascular disease were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, Clinical Modification codes. The data was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards model. @*Results@#The hazard ratio (HR) between depression and ischemic heart disease was 1.38 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23 to 1.55) and the HR between depression and cerebrovascular disease was 1.46 (95% CI, 1.32 to 1.62), after adjusting all confounding variables. @*Conclusion@#Independent of other cardiovascular risk factors, depression increased the risk of ischemic heart disease by 38% and cerebrovascular disease by 46% among older adults in Korea. Since depression may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, future research should focus on the diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular disease in people with depression.

The Impact of Depression on Fracture in Elderly: A Nationwide Population-Based Retrospective-Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Fractures should be actively prevented in the elderly because recovery from the damage of fractures is slow and fractures can cause both physical and psychological pain in the elderly. Previous studies have reported that depression is related to falls or low bone mineral density (BMD). This study aimed to evaluate the risk of fracture according to the depression status among the elderly.METHODS: This study used the National Health Insurance Corporation cohort data to examine 96,188 elderly people aged >65 years who were examined in 2007 and 2008. The chi-square test was used to determine the general characteristics and fracture incidence in patients with depression and healthy controls, and the hazard ratio was calculated using the Cox proportional hazards model corrected for general characteristics. The Kaplan-Meier method predicted the risk of fracture in two groups during the observation period.RESULTS: In the depressed group, 23.2% (441 of 1,904) of the patients had a fracture during the 5-year follow-up period; however, in the control group, only 17.5% (16,470 of 94,284) had a fracture (P < 0.001). In addition, multivariate analysis of the adjusted variables showed that the risk of fracture in the depressed group was 1.34 times higher than that in the control group. The risk of fracture in women was 1.71 times higher than that in men, and the risk of fracture increased with age.CONCLUSION: The risk of fracture in the elderly who were depressed was significantly higher than that in the elderly who were not depressed.

Efficacy and Tolerability of Peginterferon Alpha Plus Ribavirin in the Routine Daily Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Patients in Korea: A Multi-Center, Retrospective Observational Study

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of peginterferon plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients under real life setting in Korea. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 758 CHC patients treated with peginterferon plus ribavirin between 2000 and 2008 from 14 university hospitals in the Gyeonggi-Incheon area in Korea. RESULTS: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 was detected in 61.2% of patients, while genotype 2 was detected in 35.5%. Baseline HCV RNA level was > or =6x10(5) IU/mL in 51.6% of patients. The sustained virological response (SVR) rate was 59.6% regardless of genotype; 53.6% in genotype 1 and 71.4% in genotype 2/3. On multivariate analysis, male gender (p=0.011), early virological response (p80% of the planned dose (p<0.001) were associated with SVR. The rate of premature discontinuation was 35.7%. The main reason for withdrawal was intolerance to the drug due to common adverse events or cytopenia (48.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the efficacy of peginterferon and ribavirin therapy in Koreans is better in Koreans than in Caucasians for the treatment of CHC, corroborating previous studies that have shown the superior therapeutic efficacy of this regimen in Asians.

Analysis of adverse drug reactions collected by an electronic reporting system in a single hospital / 대한내과학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The recent introduction of computerized surveillance systems has promoted the monitoring of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), a feature that facilitates voluntary reports and enables prompt feedback. To investigate the causative agents and severity of ADRs that occurred in a single hospital, we analyzed the features of 980 ADRs that occurred over 14 months after developing a computerized ADR reporting system in Hallym Sacred Heart Hospital. METHODS: ADR data collected prospectively from September 2007 to October 2008 by a computerized reporting system were analyzed. The World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Center (WHO-UMC) criteria were used to determinate causality for each ADR. RESULTS: The number of ADR cases reported voluntarily increased rapidly since the introduction of the computerized ADR reporting system. Of the 980 cases, antibiotics (34.5%) were the most common causative drugs, followed by analgesics such as tramadol and its compound (15.2%), radiocontrast media (7.0%), narcotics (5.9%), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (5.5%). Fifty-nine (6.0%) and 206 (21.0%) cases were classified as severe and moderate reactions, respectively. The mean age was older in patients with severe ADRs than in patients with non-severe ADRs. The most common clinical features were skin manifestations, such as pruritus, skin eruptions, and urticaria. Gastrointestinal symptoms including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea were the second most frequently reported ADRs. Among antibiotics, first-generation cephalosporins were the most frequently reported causative drugs, followed by second-generation cephalosporins, penicillin/beta-lactamase inhibitors, and third-generation cephalosporins. While 11.6% of ADRs related to penicillin/beta-lactamase inhibitors were classified as severe, there was only one severe ADR (1.1%) for first-generation cephalosporins. Most ADRs were reported equally in men and women, although female cases constituted about two thirds of ADRs associated with tramadol and NSAIDs. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that a computerized reporting and replying system promoted the monitoring of ADRs. Antibiotics were reported most frequently as the causative agent of ADRs. Elderly patients seemed to be more susceptible to severe ADRs. With the voluntary reporting system, skin manifestations and gastrointestinal symptoms were detected successfully, while laboratory abnormalities without prominent symptoms seemed to be overlooked. Further efforts to screen for automated ADR signals are required.