Retrospective one-million-subject fixed-cohort survey of utilization of emergency departments due to traumatic causes in Taiwan, 2001-2010.

Background: Epidemiological study was needed to evaluate trends in emergency department (ED) utilization that could be taken into account when making policy decisions regarding the delivery and distribution of medical resources.

Methods: A retrospective fixed-cohort study of emergency medical utilization from 2001 to 2010 was performed based on one-million people sampled in 2010 in Taiwan. Focusing on traumatic cases, the annual incidences in various groups split according to sex and age were calculated, and further information regarding location of trauma and type of trauma was obtained.

Epidemiology of orthopedic fractures and other injuries among inpatients admitted due to traffic accidents: a 10-year nationwide survey in Taiwan.

To investigate the major injury patterns associated with traffic accidents and evaluate the risk factors of the main injury, a survey of Taiwan's national insurance admission data between 2002 and 2011 was performed. The incidence of traffic-accidents-related hospitalization was between 9.17% and 11.

Invasively-treated incidence of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease and associated factors in Taiwan: 2000-2011 nationwide hospitalized data analysis.

Background: Lower extremity (LE) peripheral artery disease (PAD), which is associated with a reduced quality of life and increased mortality from atherosclerotic cardio-/cerebro-vascular occlusion, is a significant public health problem, especial for an aging society such as that of Taiwan.

Methods: Specific datasets of the 2000-2011 nationwide inpatient databases were analyzed. Two inclusion criteria, including one of the major diagnosis codes of PAD and one of three categorical invasive treatments of LE PAD, were used consecutively to select cases diagnosed as LE PAD and receiving invasive treatment.

Molecular typing and epidemiology of Clostridium difficile in respiratory care wards of central Taiwan.

Background/purpose: In industrialized countries, Clostridium difficile is the major cause of nosocomial diarrhea. This study involved a broad overview of baseline epidemiology for C. difficile in Taiwan.

Comparisons of medical utilizations and categorical diagnoses of emergency visits between the elderly with catastrophic illness certificates and those without.

Background: In Taiwan, the policy of catastrophic illness certificates has benefited some populations with specific diseases, but its effect on the use of medical services and the sequence of public health has not been examined. As a pilot of a series of studies, focused on emergency department (ED) visits, the present study aimed to compare medical utilization and various diagnostic categories at EDs between the elderly with an identified catastrophic illness and the elderly without.

Methods: A cross-sectional study, based on a large-sample nationwide database (one million of the population, randomly sampled from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD)), was performed in Taiwan.

Nationwide retrospective cohort survey of orthopedic injuries in members of the Taiwanese population with psychiatric disorders, 2000-2005.

Background: The relationship between psychiatric disorders and musculoskeletal injuries is interesting but has not been investigated in depth.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study, based on a large-sample nationwide database, was performed during 2000-2005 in Taiwan.

Methods: All subjects matching the inclusion criteria of psychiatric-associated ICD9-CM diagnostic codes in 2000 were selected as the inception cohort population.

Characterization of Staphylococcus lugdunensis endocarditis in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices.

Objectives: Although the application of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) has greatly increased over the past few decades, CIED endocarditis is becoming a challenging scenario in clinical practice. Recently, Staphylococcus lugdunensis has emerged as a pathogen in CIED endocarditis. However, a detailed phenotypic characterization has not been addressed.

Severe hypercalcemia in nonobstructive pyelonephritis with acute renal failure: hit or miss?

Severe hypercalcemia in the course of renal failure is quite unusual. If unrecognized, irreversible inexorable attrition of renal function takes place, carrying a substantial morbidity and mortality. In particular, acute nonobstructive pyelonephritis is barely considered in the primary differential diagnosis of renal failure.

Surviving a crisis of HIV-associated immune reconstitution syndrome.

The management of life-threatening complications in HIV-associated immune reconstitution syndrome is becoming a challenging scenario in emergency practice, especially in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy paralleled by increased worldwide incidence of HIV infection. Here, we described a 37-year-old woman with acute hypoxic respiratory failure, acute renal failure, and hypercalcemic crisis as the presenting features of HIV-associated immune reconstitution syndrome. In this patient, the restored granulomatous host response toward isolated pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex infection led to a near-fatal catastrophe.