Vitreous haemorrhage:a population-based study of the incidence and risk factors in Taiwan

AIM：To report the epidemiology and incidence of vitreous hemorrhage and to evaluate risk factors for patients with vitreous hemorrhage（VH）in Taiwan.METHODS：A retrospective population-based study.Analyzing a sample of one million subjects from all enrollees of the Taiwan Health Insurance programme. All data were obtained from the Taiwan Health Insurance Research Database,which contained patient sex,date of birth,all records of clinical visits and hospitalizations,and diagnosis codes as included in the International Classification of Diseases,Ninth Revision,Clinical Modification（ICD-9-CM）. The main outcome measures were the incidence and risk factors of VH.RESULTS：From 2001 to 2010,the database claim 4379 newly diagnosed cases were identified with VH. The average incidence of VH in Taiwan was 4.8 cases per ten-thousand person-years generally and increased with time especially in subjects who aged between 40 and 59 y and when the VH was associated with proliferative diabetic retinopathies or retinal vein occlusions. A de-finitely upward trends in the incidence of VH from 2001 to 2010 were noted（P-value for increasing trend 〈0.001）. Univariate Cox＇s regression analysis pointed out that older age（for 40-59,P〈0.001,HR=9.39; for ≥60,P〈0.001,HR=11.39）,male gender（P=0.03,HR=1.07）and subjects who had been prescribed anti-coagulation drug included aspirin,warfarinand clopidogrel（P〈0.001,HR=2.20）were significant risk factors for suffering from VH.CONCLUSION：The incidence of VH is estimated being 4.8 cases per 10 000 person-years in Taiwan. Age,male gender and having been prescribed anti-coagulation drugs are associated with the incidence of VH.

Incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Uygur and Han Chinese adults in Urumqi

AIM:To investigate the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) and its related risk factors in Uygur and Han Chinese adult in Urumqi,China.METHODS:A population-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken in a total of 972 Uygur(684 male and 288 female) aged from 24 to 61 and 1023 Han Chinese(752 male and 271 female) aged from 23 to 63 years.All participants were recruited from the residents who visited hospital for health examination from November 2011 to May 2012.Each participant signed an informed consent and completed a GERD questionnaire(GerdQ) and a lifestyle-food frequency questionnaire survey.Participants whose Gerd Q score was ≥ 8 and met one of the following requirements would be enrolled into this research:(1) being diagnosed with erosive esophagitis(EE) or Barrett's esophagus(BE) by endoscopy;(2) negative manifestation under endoscopy(non-erosive reflux disease,NERD) with abnormal acid reflux revealed by 24-h esophageal pH monitoring;and(3) suffering from typical heartburn and regurgitation with positive result of proton pump inhibitor test.RESULTS:According to Gerd Q scoring criteria,340 cases of Uygur and 286 cases of Han Chinese were defined as GERD.GERD incidence in Uygur was significantly higher than in Han Chinese(35% vs 28%,χ2 = 11.09,P < 0.005),Gerd Q score in Uygur was higher than in Han Chinese(7.85 ± 3.1 vs 7.15 ± 2.9,P < 0.005),and Gerd Q total score in Uygur male was higher than in female(8.15 ± 2.8 vs 6.85 ± 2.5,P < 0.005).According to normalized methods,304(31%) cases of Uygur were diagnosed with GERD,including 89 cases of EE,185 cases of NERD and 30 cases of BE;256(25%) cases of Han Chinese were diagnosed with GERD,including 90 cases of EE,140 cases of NERD and 26 cases of BE.GERD incidence in Uygur was significantly higher than in Han Chinese(31% vs 25%,χ2 = 9.34,P < 0.005) while the incidences were higher in males of both groups than in females(26% vs 5% in Uygur,χ2 = 35.95,P < 0.005,and 19.8% vs 5.2% in Han,χ2 = 5.48,P < 0.025).GERD incidence in Uygur male was higher than in Han Chinese male(26% vs 19.8%,χ2 = 16.51,P < 0.005),and incidence of NERD in Uygur was higher than in Han Chinese(χ2 = 10.06,P < 0.005).Occupation(r = 0.623),gender(r = 0.839),smoking(r = 0.322),strong tea(r = 0.658),alcohol drinking(r = 0.696),meat-based diet(mainly meat)(r = 0.676) and body mass index(BMI)(r = 0.567) were linearly correlated with GERD in Uygur(r = 0.833,P = 0.000);while gender(r = 0.957),age(r = 0.016),occupation(r = 0.482),strong tea(r = 1.124),alcohol drinking(r = 0.558),meat diet(r = 0.591) and BMI(r = 0.246) were linearly correlated with GERD in Han Chinese(r = 0.786,P = 0.01).There was no significant difference between Gerd Q scoring and three normalized methods for the diagnosis of GERD.CONCLUSION:GERD is highly prevalent in adult in Urumqi,especially in Uygur.Male,civil servant,smoking,strong tea,alcohol drinking,meat diet and BMI are risk factors correlated to GERD.