Association of age with risk of major depression among patients with chronic kidney disease over midlife: a nationwide cohort study in Taiwan.

Background: The impact of age on the development of depression among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) at stages before dialysis is not well known. We aimed to explore the incidence of major depression among predialysis CKD patients of successively older ages through midlife.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the longitudinal health insurance database 2005 in Taiwan.

Risk of major depression in patients with chronic renal failure on different treatment modalities: A matched-cohort and population-based study in Taiwan.

The influence of different treatment modalities on the risk of developing major depression in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) is not well understood. We aimed to explore the incidence of major depression among patients with CRF who were on different dialysis modalities, who had received renal transplantation (RT), and those who had not yet received any of the aforementioned renal replacement therapies. We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study using a national health insurance research database.

The association between surgeon case volume and hospitalization costs in free flap oral cancer reconstruction operations.

Background: Although inverse volume-cost relationships have been reported for many major surgical procedures, such relationships remain unexplored in the field of microsurgery for oral cancer reconstruction. This study therefore was conducted to confirm, or refute, the hypothesis that higher surgeon volume is associated with better economic outcomes in free-flap operations for oral cancer reconstruction.

Methods: From a population-based data set covering the years 2002 to 2003, the authors selected a total of 2325 oral cancer patients who had undergone free-flap operations.