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There are currently no good indicators that can be used to predict the medical expenses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This was a retrospective study that focused on the correlation between the age, dyspnoea, and airflow obstruction (ADO) index and the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) on the medical burden in COPD patients, specifically, those of patients with complete ADO index and CCI data in our hospital from January 2015 to December 2016. Of the 396 patients with COPD who met the inclusion criteria, 382 (96.5%) were male, with an average age of 71.3 ± 8.4 years. Healthcare resource utilisation was positively correlated with the ADO index. A significant association was found between the ADO index and CCI of COPD patients (p < 0.001). In-hospitalization expenses were positively correlated with the CCI (p < 0.001). Under the same CCI, the higher the ADO score, the higher the hospitalisation expenses. The ADO quartiles were positively correlated with the number of hospitalisations (p < 0.001), hospitalisation days (p < 0.001), hospitalisation expenses (p = 0.03), and total medical expenses (p = 0.037). Findings from this study show that the ADO index can predict the medical burden of COPD.

This Data in Brief article provides supplementary information about how we explored aid effectiveness of Taiwanese government’s horticulture project in the Marshall Islands. The issue of sustainable development in small island developing countries has become increasingly important [1] , [2] , [3] . Moreover, Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have become more serious in the Pacific Islands in recent years, adversely affecting people’s health. The data will also benefit those interested in understanding the eating habits in the Pacific Islands. We selected and assigned participants (using household as a unit) of the project to the experimental group and non-participants to the control group to evaluate the impact of the horticulture project. As for data collection in the field, we collected data through a structured questionnaire. We recruited one interviewer to conduct household surveys in the field for 40 days from April to June in 2017. A total of 96 valid questionnaires were collected, including 36 participants and 60 non-participants. The average household consumption of vegetables and fruits is 6.18 units (SD=7.84). Comparing project participants with non-participants, consumption of vegetables and fruits of the participants is 1.96 units higher than non-participants (P = 0.062).

Background Presently, the Department of Health Taiwan has begun to fund a smoking cessation program, and the annual cessation rate was 8.9% in 2010. This study aims to see whether to enhance abstinence effectiveness by utilizing exhaled carbon monoxide (COExh) measurement with self-declared smoking cessation. Methods The longitudinal prospective study gathered 33 subjects on quitting smoking with the motivation to join the grant program in chest outpatient from August 2009 to July 2010. Overall, subjects were given nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in the first stage, and explored abstinence rate results in evaluation stage. The cutoff point of COExh 6 ppm or less than (≤) and patients' self-declared abstinence reports confirmed a smoking cessation success status. Point abstinences were defined as the smokers refrained from smoking at least 7 days, while continuous abstinences were defined as nonsmoking at least 3, 6 and 12 months. Results The validities were 198 tracking results for two stages (P

BACKGROUND: The aging Taiwan population is expected to require vast medical resources, including prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV). This study determined the trends in hospital resource utilization and associated factors in PMV patients in Taiwan. METHODS: All patients who had received mechanical ventilation for > 21 days (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification codes 518.81–518.89) during 2004–2007 were recruited to the study. Administrative claims data obtained from the Bureau of National Health Insurance of Taiwan were analyzed. RESULTS: The study analyzed 65,181 patients who had received PMV during 2004–2007. The number of PMVs per 100,000 persons was 94.30 in 2004, and it gradually decreased to 89.38 in 2007, which was a change rate of −5.22%. During the study period, stay significantly decreased, from 35.12 days to 31.61 days, whereas hospital treatment costs significantly increased, from $7,933.17 to $8,257.52 ( P < .001). Considerably decreased stay and increased hospital treatment costs were significantly associated with age, number of comorbidities, hospital level, hospital volume, and patient referral source ( P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These population-based data demonstrated a decrease in the prevalence of PMV, especially for older patients, and that stay decreased; however, hospital treatment costs increased. Moreover, healthcare providers and patients should recognize that attributes of both the patient and the hospital may affect hospital resource utilization. Additionally, these analytical results should be applicable to similar populations in other countries.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the specimen adequacy and diagnostic accuracy of loop conization in microinvasive carcinoma of the cervix. A retrospective study was conducted from 1997 to 2003 at the Colposcopic Clinic, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Sixty-three consecutive patients with microinvasive carcinoma of the cervix receiving cold-knife conization (35 patients) or loop conization (28 patients) were included in the study. All patients underwent definitive hysterectomy. We reviewed the conization specimen together with the hysterectomied uterus to compare the two conization techniques with respect to the histopathologic interpretation and diagnostic accuracy. The mean depth of cone specimens was significantly less in the loop conization compared with cold-knife conization (1.65 versus 2.35 cm, P = 0.035). Regarding the application of conization, the loop conization was completed in a single slice in 27 patients (77.1%) and in multiple slices in 8 patients (22.9 %), in spite of encouragement to perform conization in a one-pass application when possible. However, the cold-knife specimens were invariably a single cone-shaped piece. As reviewed by microscopic examination, the rate of tissue transection was significantly higher in the loop group than in the cold-knife group (14.3% versus 0%, P = 0.04). Because of tissue transection and disorientation, pathologic evaluation of stromal status was inadequate in 11.4% (4/35) of the loop cones as opposed to none of the 28 cold-knife cones. After assessing the hysterectomy specimens, the clinical diagnoses in the loop group were downgraded in three patients compared with only one in the cold-knife group. Data from this investigation suggest that cervical cold-knife conization is superior to loop conization as a method to assess microinvasive cervical cancer.

Presently, the Department of Health Taiwan has begun to fund a smoking cessation program, and the annual cessation rate was 8.9% in 2010. This study aims to see whether to enhance abstinence effectiveness by utilizing exhaled carbon monoxide (COExh) measurement with self-declared smoking cessation.The longitudinal prospective study gathered 33 subjects on quitting smoking with the motivation to join the grant program in chest outpatient from August 2009 to July 2010. Overall, subjects were given nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in the first stage, and explored abstinence rate results in evaluation stage. The cutoff point of COExh 6 ppm or less than (≤) and patients' self-declared abstinence reports confirmed a smoking cessation success status. Point abstinences were defined as the smokers refrained from smoking at least 7 days, while continuous abstinences were defined as nonsmoking at least 3, 6 and 12 months.The validities were 198 tracking results for two stages (P 0.001 vs P 0.001), and sensitivity (56.5% vs 60.0%), specificity (90.1% vs 82.6%), positive predictive value (63.4% vs 60.0%) and negative predictive value (87.2% vs 82.6%) were detected. Moreover, the validities were 33 results for point and continuous abstinences at 3 month (P 0.001 vs P 0.001), and higher successful rates. Point abstinence rates at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up for overall subjects were 27.2%, 15.2% and 18.1%, respectively. Continuous abstinence rates at 3, 6 and 12 months were 24.2%, 12.1% and 12.1%, respectively.Utilizing COExh measurement with self-declared smoking cessation enhanced abstinence effectiveness in Taiwanese outpatients.

The Global initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) staging has widely used in the stratification of the severity of COPD, while BODE (body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity) index was proven superior to FEV1 in predicting mortality, exacerbation and disease severity in patients with COPD. Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ), a questionnaire with ten items categorized into three domains (symptoms, functional state and mental state) was developed to measure health status of COPD patients. However, little is known about the relationship between CCQ score and BODE index. We performed a prospective study with the inclusion of 89 patients who were clinically stable after a 6-week-therapy for COPD symptoms comparing their health status assessed by CCQ, BODE index and GOLD staging. We found that the total CCQ score was correlated with BODE score (P<0.001) and GOLD staging (P<0.001); of three CCQ domains, the functional status correlated the most with BODE index (rS=0.670) and GOLD staging (rS=0.531), followed by symptoms (rS=0.482;rS=0.346, respectively), and mental status (rS=0.340;rS=0.236, respectively). Our data suggest that CCQ is a reliable and convenient alternative tool to evaluate the severity of COPD.

Background For both dengue and scrub typhus, acute respiratory failure (ARF) is a serious complication. The present study was carried out in order to investigate the clinical courses and outcomes of adult dengue and scrub typhus patients with ARF, and to identify the clinical differences between adult dengue and scrub typhus patients with ARF. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of the serologically confirmed adult dengue or scrub typhus patients admitted between 1998 and 2008 at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. A total of 980 dengue and 102 scrub typhus adult patients were included in our study. Results Eighteen of the 980 adult dengue patients and 8 of the 102 adult scrub typhus patients had ARF. There were significant differences that existed for eschar (P = 0.001; dengue 0%; scrub 62.5%), cough (P = 0.016; dengue 55.6%; scrub typhus 100%), white blood cell (WBC) count [P = 0.026; dengue 7.40 ± 5.74; scrub typhus 11.84 ± 4.95 (×103/μL)], platelet count [P = 0.008; dengue 42.2 ± 33.9; scrub typhus 104.1 ± 93.3 (×109/L)], prothrombin time (PT) [P = 0.007; dengue 12.82 ± 1.36; scrub typhus 10.74 ± 0.98 (s)], activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) [P = 0.002; dengue 50.81 ± 10.08; scrub typhus 37.44 ± 4.06 (s)], blood urea nitrogen (BUN) [P

Background Oxidative stress is known to be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Evidence suggests that leukocytes mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) is susceptible to undergo mutations, insertions, or depletion in response to reactive oxidative stress (ROS). We hypothesize that mtDNA copy number is associated with the development of COPD. Methodology/Principal Findings Relative mtDNA copy number was measured by a quantitative real-time PCR assay using DNA extracted from peripheral leukocytes. MtDNA copy number of peripheral leukocytes in the COPD group (n = 86) is significantly decreased compared with non-smoker group (n = 77) (250.3± 21.5 VS. 464.2± 49.9, P