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Background Limited information about tumor status and the time at which antiviral therapy was initiated may have influenced effect estimation in previous research. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of antiviral therapies on HBV-related HCC progression and deaths in patients receiving curative treatment based on clear clinical-pathological cancer status and the association of start time of adjuvant antiviral therapy initiation and outcomes. Methodology A nationwide inception cohort study of newly diagnosed HCC patients who suffered from viral hepatitis B and received curative HCC therapy as the first course of treatment were identified from the Taiwan Cancer Registry between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2009. Matched Cox proportional hazards models based on propensity score matching and incorporated time-varying exposure were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Findings Among 3,855 HCC patients with HBV, antiviral therapy was administered to 490 (12.7%) following curative treatment. Antiviral-treated patients had a higher percentage of young age, early stage, and smaller tumor size of HCC compared with untreated patients. After propensity score matching, treated patients demonstrated a higher risk of HCC progression (hazard ratio, 1.42; 95%CI, 1.20–1.69) and death from all causes (1.45; 1.15–1.82) than untreated patients. Similar results were also obtained in sub-cohort of patients who were alive with cancer-free status at least one year after receiving curative treatment and the sub-cohort of patients with liver resection. The interval length between initiation of antiviral therapy and first-line curative treatment did not show a significant association with all-cause mortality. Conclusions This study found that adjuvant antiviral therapy did not reduce the risk of HCC progression or mortality in HBV-related HCC patients after cancer status adjusting.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB) relapse using the nationwide TB registry in Taiwan. We conducted a case-control study nested within a nationwide cohort of all incident cases of pulmonary TB that were notified during 2006-2007 and had completed anti-TB treatment. The relapse of TB was confirmed by bacteriological or pathological findings. For each relapse case, one control was selected from the study cohort matching by time since treatment completion. DM status was ascertained by medical chart review and cross-matching with the National Health Insurance claims database. A total of 305 cases of relapse were identified after a median follow-up of 3 years (relapse rate: 488 per 100,000 person-year; 95% confidence interval (CI): 434-546). Presence of DM during previous anti-TB treatment was 34.0% and 22.7% in cases and controls, respectively. After adjusting for other potential confounders, DM was associated with increased risk of TB relapse (adjusted odds ratio: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.22-3.15). Only one-third of the DM-TB patients in our study received glycaemic monitoring using HbA1c during anti-TB treatment. Presence of DM was independently associated with risk of TB relapse. TB programs should seriously consider rigorous glucose control in DM-TB patients.

BACKGROUND: Randomized trials suggest that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) may be more effective than percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the survival advantage of RFA needs confirmation in daily practice. METHODS: We conducted a population-based cohort study using the Taiwan Cancer Registry, National Health Insurance claim database and National Death Registry data from 2004 through 2009. Patients receiving PEI or RFA as first-line treatment for newly-diagnosed stage I-II HCC were enrolled. RESULTS: A total of 658 patients receiving RFA and 378 patients receiving PEI treatment were included for final analysis. The overall survival (OS) rates of patients in the RFA and PEI groups at 5-year were 55% and 42%, respectively (p < 0.01). Compared to patients that received PEI, those that received RFA had lower risks of overall mortality and first-line treatment failure (FTF), with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) [95% confidence interval (CI)] of 0.60 (0.50-0.73) for OS and 0.54 (0.46-0.64) for FTF. The favorable outcomes for the RFA group were consistently significant for patients with tumors > 2 cm as well as for those with tumors < 2 cm. Consistent results were also observed in other subgroup analyses defined by gender, age, tumor stage, and co-morbidity status. CONCLUSION: RFA provides better survival benefits than PEI for patients with unresectable stage I-II HCC, irrespective of tumors > 2 cm or ≤ 2 cm, in contemporary clinical practice.

INTRODUCTION: Uterine cancer was the most rapidly increasing malignancy and the second most common gynecologic malignancy in Taiwan. METHODS: We analyzed the secular trend of uterine cancer incidence and compare the survival of women with uterine carcinomas and uterine sarcomas in Taiwan. Data on women diagnosed with uterine cancer between 1979 and 2008 were obtained from the Taiwan cancer registry. Survival data were analyzed by using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression methods. RESULTS: Records of 11,558 women with uterine carcinomas and 1,226 women with uterine sarcomas were analyzed. The age-adjusted incidence rate of endometrioid adenocarcinoma increased from 0.83 per 100,000 women per year between 1979 and 1983 to 7.50 per 100,000 women per year between 2004 and 2008. The 5-year survival rate of women with endometrioid adenocarcinoma (83.2%) was higher than that for women with clear cell carcinoma (58.3%), serous carcinoma (54.4%), and carcinosarcoma (35.2%) (p

Background Preclinical and observational studies raise the concern about the safety of insulin glargine in terms of cancer initiation and promotion. This study is designed to examine cancer incidence associated with use of insulin glargine vs. intermediate/long-acting human insulin (HI). Methodology A retrospective cohort study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance claims database was conducted to identify adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and without a history of cancer who initiated insulin glargine (n = 10,190) or intermediate/long-acting HI (n = 49,253) during 2004–2007. Exclusive users were followed from the date of insulin initiation to the earliest of cancer diagnosis, death, disenrollment, or December 31 2007. We estimated adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for baseline propensity score. Findings The incidence rate of all cancer per 1,000 person-years was 13.8 for insulin glargine initiators (179 cases) and 16.0 for intermediate/long-acting HI initiators (1,445 cases) during an average follow-up of 2 years. No significant difference in overall cancer risk between insulin glargine initiators and HI initiators was found. For men, however, the adjusted hazard ratio of insulin glargine use as compared with intermediate/long-acting HI was 2.15 (95% CI 1.01–4.59) for pancreatic cancer, and 2.42 (95% CI 1.50–8.40) for prostate cancer. The increased risk was not observed among women. Conclusions Insulin glargine use did not increase the risk of overall cancer incidence as compared with HI. The positive associations with pancreatic and prostate cancer need further evaluation and validation.