Researchers at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Target Pneumonia (Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis and Risk of Pneumonia: A Nationwide Population-Based…

Managed Care Weekly Digest

Researchers at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Target Pneumonia (Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis and Risk of Pneumonia: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Investigators publish new report on Lung Diseases and Conditions - Pneumonia. According to news reporting originating from Chiayi, Taiwan, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Objective To investigate pneumonia risk among patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP). Retrospective population-based cohort study."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, "This study used data from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, a nationwide population-based database. A total of 419 patients newly diagnosed with UVFP between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2013, were identified from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000, a nationally representative database of 1 million randomly selected patients. Moreover, 1676 patients without UVFP were matched to patients with UVFP at a 1:4 ratio based on age, sex, socioeconomic status, urbanization level, and site-specific cancers. Patients were followed up until death or the end of the study period (December 31, 2013). The primary outcome was the occurrence of pneumonia. The cumulative incidence of pneumonia was significantly higher for patients with UVFP than those without UFVP (p <.001). The adjusted Cox proportional hazard model showed that UVFP was significantly associated with a higher incidence of pneumonia (hazard ratio, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.35-2.86; p<.001). Subgroup analyses demonstrated that UVFP was an independent risk factor of pneumonia for 4 subgroups: young (18-50 years), older ( greater than or equal to51 years), male, and cancer. This is the first nationwide population-based cohort study to investigate the association between UVFP and pneumonia. The findings indicate that UVFP is an independent risk factor of pneumonia."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Given the study results, physicians should be aware of the potential for pneumonia occurrence following UVFP."

For more information on this research see: Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis and Risk of Pneumonia: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study. Otolaryngology--head and Neck Surgery, 2018;():194599818756285 (see also Lung Diseases and Conditions - Pneumonia).

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting M.S. Tsai, 1 Dept. of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Chiayi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan. Additional authors for this research include Y.H. Yang, C.Y. Liu, M.H. Lin, G.H. Chang, Y.T. Tsai, H.Y. Li, Y.H. Tsai and C.M Hsu.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1177/0194599818756285. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Asia, Chiayi, Taiwan, Pneumonia, Pulmonology, Epidemiology, Health Insurance, Clinical Research, Infectious Disease, Health and Medicine, Risk and Prevention, Clinical Trials and Studies, Lung Diseases and Conditions, Respiratory Tract Infections, Respiratory Tract Diseases and Conditions.