Chin-Tun Hung

Background: Elderly COPD patients present unique challenges due to multimorbidity and diminished self-management capacity. Taiwan’s COPD integrated disease management (IDM) program—comprising multidisciplinary care, patient education, and routine follow-up—has exerted a positive net effect on reducing COPD exacerbations. Whether similar benefits extend to elderly patients across different healthcare settings remain unclear. This study evaluated pre-post changes in ED visits and hospitalizations across four healthcare setting. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the Taiwan COPD Pay-for-Performance registry and National Health Insurance claims database. Elderly COPD patients (≥ 65 years) enrolled in the IDM program were included. COPD severity was classified according to GOLD grade based on FEV₁% predicted. Patients were stratified by healthcare level (medical centers, regional hospitals, district hospitals, and primary care clinics). Primary outcomes were pre-post changes in ED visits and hospitalizations within one year. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to assess changes in healthcare utilization. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with improvement. Results: A total of 1454 elderly COPD patients were analyzed (mean age 74.8± 6.3 years; 90.7% male, mean Post-BD FEV1/FVC 56.95± 11.00). District hospitals demonstrated the most significant reduction in both COPD-related ED visits (from 35.2% to 25.1%; p = 0.011) and hospitalizations (from 28.6% to 22.5%; p = 0.002) compared with primary care clinics. In contrast, medical centers showed increased hospitalizations rates (from 18.1% to 18.9%; p = 0.008). Factors independently associated with significantly greater reductions in the rate of both ED visits and hospitalizations included advanced age and greater COPD severity. Conclusion: Integrated COPD care reduced ED visits and hospitalizations most significantly at district hospitals. Patients with GOLD 3 and GOLD 4 grades, disproportionately represented at district hospitals, showed significantly greater reductions. These findings demonstrate that benefit magnitude varies across healthcare settings based on patient severity profiles.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney stones are common in Taiwan; in particular, CKD has a high prevalence but low self-awareness rate. CKD-related risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and nephrotoxic drugs are well-known and uncontested; however, kidney stones are relatively less studied and easily overlooked as a risk factor. The objective of this study was to investigate whether kidney stones are a risk factor for CKD. Methods: We conducted a nationwide population-based matched cohort study to assess the risk of incident CKD in people with kidney stones. Data on incident stones formers in the year 2001—excluding those with a history of CKD—were obtained from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance database. Stone formers were matched (1:4) to control subjects according to sex, age, and index date. The total observation period of the study was 10 years, and the primary end-point was the occurrence of CKD. Student’s t-test and Chi-squared test were used to compare continuous and categorical data, respectively. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio of kidney stone patients with incident CKD relative to the control group. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to obtain the hazard ratio for development of incident CKD among patients with kidney stones. Results: The incidence of CKD in the kidney stone cohort was 11.2%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < .001). Survival analysis showed that the stones cohort was 1.82 times more likely to experience CKD than the controls. Age, sex, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia increased the risk of CKD incidence (1.04, 1.27, 1.55, 3.31, and 1.25 times, respectively). Conclusion: Kidney stones are a definite risk factor for CKD; therefore, patients with stones are suggested to undergo regular renal function monitoring and receive appropriate treatment to avoid CKD.

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney stones are common in Taiwan; in particular, CKD has a high prevalence but low self-awareness rate. CKD-related risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and nephrotoxic drugs are well-known and uncontested; however, kidney stones are relatively less studied and easily overlooked as a risk factor. The objective of this study was to investigate whether kidney stones are a risk factor for CKD.Methods We conducted a nationwide population-based matched cohort study to assess the risk of incident CKD in people with kidney stones. Data on incident stones formers in the year 2001—excluding those with a history of CKD—were obtained from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance database. Stone formers were matched (1:4) to control subjects according to sex, age, and index date. The total observation period of the study was 10 years, and the primary end-point was the occurrence of CKD. Student’s t-test and Chi-squared test were used to compare continuous and categorical data, respectively. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio of kidney stone patients with incident CKD relative to the control group. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to obtain the hazards ratio for development of incident CKD among patients with kidney stones.Results The incidence of CKD in the kidney stone cohort was 11.2%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < .001). Survival analysis showed that the stones cohort was 1.82 times more likely to experience CKD than the controls. Age, sex, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia increased the risk of CKD incidence (1.04, 1.27, 1.55, 3.31, and 1.25 times, respectively).Conclusion Kidney stones are a definite risk factor for CKD; therefore, patients with stones are suggested to undergo regular renal function monitoring and receive appropriate treatment to avoid CKD.

Musculoskeletal pain in people with type 2 diabetes is a common issue even to this day. The study aimed to explore the 10-year cumulative incidence of musculoskeletal pain, the mean number of doctor visits for musculoskeletal pain, and the mean number of doctor visits for musculoskeletal pain by location in people with type 2 diabetes, compared with respective values for people without diabetes. The study utilized a population-based retrospective cohort study design. The subjects were randomly obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The diabetic group included 6586 people with type 2 diabetes aged 18–50 years, while the non-diabetic group consisted of 32,930 age- and sex-matched people. Based on the medical records of individuals with musculoskeletal pain in the two groups from 2001 to 2010, the 10-year cumulative incidence of musculoskeletal pain, the mean number of doctor visits for musculoskeletal pain, and the mean number of doctor visits for musculoskeletal pain by location were calculated and compared, with the aim of identifying differences between the two groups. Showed that people in the diabetic group had a higher 10-year cumulative incidence of and a higher mean number of doctor visits for musculoskeletal pain than the non-diabetic group (p < 0.05). The relative risk (RR) of the 10-year cumulative incidence of musculoskeletal pain in the two groups was the highest (RR = 1.39) for people between 30 and 39 years of age. The mean number of doctor visits for musculoskeletal pain by location was significantly different between the two groups. However, the mean number of doctor visits for limb pain registered the largest difference between the two groups. People with type 2 diabetes aged 18–50 years had a higher 10-year cumulative incidence of and a higher mean number of doctor visits for musculoskeletal pain than the non-diabetic group. Musculoskeletal pain might directly or indirectly interfere with or decrease the physical activity levels of people with diabetes. Therefore, it is important to detect and treat musculoskeletal pain early in order to promote physical activity and optimize blood sugar control.

Population aging and the incremental use of high-tech instruments increase the demand for radiological examinations and treatments in medical services. The exposure of radiologists and other medical workers to medical treatment radiation may thus be increased. The aim of the study was to explore the average number of cancer hospitalizations and use of hospitalization as cancer treatment for radiologists compared with that for family medicine physicians, as well as the trends in the annual average number of cancer hospitalizations among radiologists. Research data were obtained from the 2000-2010 Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. These samples collected for this study were unbalanced panel data. The average number of cancer hospitalizations for radiologists from 2000 to 2010 ranged between 3.67 and 28.26‰. After controlling the effects of gender, age, hospital accreditation level and year using generalized estimating equations with a binomial distribution and logit link function, our study found that radiologists had non significant higher risk of cancer hospitalizations compared with family medicine physicians. However, the average number of cancer hospitalizations for radiologists showed an annual decline from 2000 to 2010. Compared with family medicine physicians, radiologists had non significant higher risk of cancer hospitalizations. The data period examined in this study was only 11 years. Considering the numerous new radiological procedures currently in use in modern medical treatments, the health status of medical radiation workers should be continuously monitored in the future.

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) represent the leading causes of occupational injuries among nursing staff. This population-based study was designed to assess the incidence and age-specific incidence of MSDs among a Taiwanese nurse cohort compared with non-nurses. Description: Data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database were used to identify MSDs in the study population. A total of 3914 nurses with a diagnosis of MSD were included, together with 11,744 non-nurses as a comparison group. The comparison subjects were randomly selected at a ratio of 3:1 relative to the nurse population and were matched by gender and age. The incidence of MSDs was calculated for the study group, with nurse-to-reference risk ratios presented as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During the period 2004–2010, 3004 MSDs occurred among the nurses (76.24%) and 7779 (65.79%) in the non-nurses. The annual incidence of MSDs for the nurses increased from 28.35% in 2006 to 33.65% in 2010. The nurse-to-reference risk ratio was 1.27 (95% CI 1.19–1.35) in 2004 and 1.46 (1.37–1.55) in 2010. Herniation of intervertebral disc, lumbago, rotator cuff syndrome, medial epicondylitis, trigger finger and carpal tunnel syndrome were the most common problems. Conclusions: Nurses are at higher risk of MSDs and the trend is increasing. Incorrect work-related posture/movement, psychological issues and the rolling shift system may be the major causes of MSDs among nurses in Taiwan.