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Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a race-specific malignancy. The nasal cavity is the main entry point for air pollutants or poisonous gases into the human body. However, the risk of NPC in populations exposed to air pollution remains unknown. Methods: We combined data from the Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Database (TAQMD) and the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID) to assess the risk of NPC in a population exposed to air pollution. Results: Multivariate analysis revealed positive trends for the association between the risk of NPC and exposure to air pollution. After adjusting for potential covariates, the risk of developing NPC increased with the increase in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure concentrations from 1.39 to 2.28 and 2.01 to 1.97, respectively, compared to the risks at the lowest concentration levels. Conclusions: We identified a significant risk of NPC in a population exposed to air pollution. However, this study had several limitations. Moreover, additional experimental and clinical studies on the associations between environmental factors and NPC risk are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the association between aortic aneurysm (AA) and the subsequent risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) are limited to a few case reports and investigations which only focused on surgical effects. Therefore, we used the National Health Insurance Research Database to clarify whether patients with AAs have a heightened risk of subsequent VTEs, including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Our retrospective cohort study comprised patients aged ≥ 18 years who received a diagnosis of an AA and were hospitalized at any point during 2000–2010 (n = 16,630). Each AA patient was frequency-matched to 4 non-AA hospitalized patients based on age, sex, and index year (n = 66,453). The Cox proportional hazard regressions model was used to estimate the adjusted effect of AAs on VTE risk. The overall incidence of DVT and PE was higher in the patients with AA than in the non-AA group patients (23.5 versus 13.2 and 13.5 versus 7.98/1,000 person-years). After adjustment for age, sex, duration of hospitalization in the study period, and comorbidities, patients with AAs were associated with a 1.88-fold higher risk of DVT and 1.90-fold higher risk of PE compared to the non-AA cohort. Patients with abdominal AAs were more likely to develop DVT, whereas thoracic AA patients were more likely to develop PE. A diagnosis of a ruptured AA was associated with a substantially increased risk of DVT. Surgical treatment of AAs was associated with a heightened risk of VTE within 6-months post-operation. Our study demonstrates that AAs are associated with an increased risk of subsequent VTE. Future investigations are encouraged to delineate the mechanisms underlying this association and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of screening for VTEs in patients with AAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]