Alcohol Dependence in Taiwan: From Epidemiology to Biomedicine

Lin

Human Psychopharmacology

et al. 2017

Self Cite

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 70%

Effects of caffeinated alcoholic beverages with low alcohol and high caffeine content on cognitive and motor functions

Lin

Human Psychopharmacology

et al. 2017

Self Cite

“…33 , 34 Patients with mental disorders had 5-fold more alcoholic disorder than the general population in a hospital-based survey in Taiwan. 35 Though we excluded alcoholic cirrhosis and most alcohol-related diseases in the study and control groups, the influence of alcohol on GIB risk in this study cannot be totally excluded. Thus, the occurrence of UGIB and LGIB in SSRI/SNRI users could be overestimated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Use of SSRI, But Not SNRI, Increased Upper and Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Lin

et al. 2015

Medicine

Selective serotonin receptor inhibitor (SSRI) and serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) users have been reported to have an increased risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB), but their association with lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) is less studied. This study aimed to analyze the incidence of UGIB and LGIB among SSRI users, SNRI users, and controls.Using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, 9753 subjects who were taking serotonin reuptake inhibitors (8809 with SSRIs, and 944 with SNRIs), and 39,012 age, sex, and enrollment time-matched controls were enrolled at a 1:4 ratio. The log-rank test was used to analyze differences in the cumulative hazard of UGIB and LGIB between groups. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent risk factors for UGIB and LGIB.During the 10-year follow-up period from 2000 to 2010, SSRI users, but not SNRI users, had significantly higher incidences of UGIB and LGIB than the controls (P < 0.001; log-rank test). The use of SSRIs, but not SNRIs, was independently associated with an increased risk of UGIB (hazard ratio [HR]:1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.67–2.31) and LGIB (HR: 2.96, 95% CI: 2.46–3.57) after adjusting for age, sex, underlying comorbidities, and medications.The long-term use of SSRIs significantly increased the risk of UGIB and LGIB, and caused more LGIB than UGIB in the general population after adjusting for possible confounding factors, but the association between SNRIs and GIB is insignificant. Further prospective studies are needed to clarify this important issue.

“…In the ‘Yes’ group, the amount and the frequency of alcohol consumption was not documented, which prevented further analysis. Nevertheless, the prevalence of alcohol dependence is estimated to be only 3% in Taiwan, and thus likely has only a minor impact on the results [ 49 ]. Third, the causal relationship could not be determined due to the cross-sectional design—further longitudinal studies are required to further elucidate the issue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High health literacy is associated with less obesity and lower Framingham risk score: Sub-study of the VGH-HEALTHCARE trial

et al. 2018

BackgroundsLower health literacy (HL) is associated with several cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome (MS). The aim of our study was to investigate the association between HL and the Framingham 10-year risk score of CVD.MethodsFrom 2015–2016, 1010 subjects aged 23 to 88 years receiving health check-up in Taipei Veterans General Hospital had complete clinical evaluations and laboratory examinations. Fatty liver was diagnosed by ultrasonography. The short form questionnaire adapted from the Mandarin Health Literacy Scale was used to assess HL. The Framingham risk score was calculated by patient characteristics.ResultsSubjects with higher BMIs were associated with lower HL scores. The proportion of subjects with MS was higher in the lower health literacy score group (≤ 9) at 28.8%; further analysis found that lower HL was significantly associated with MS in women but not in men. The Spearman’s rho demonstrated that the HL score was significantly associated with the BMI-based (rho = -0.11; P < 0.001) or lipid-based (rho = -0.09; P < 0.004) Framingham risk score.ConclusionsHigher HL scores were associated with less CVD risk such as lower BMIs, less MS in women, and less fatty liver disease. Furthermore, HL had an inverse association with the Framingham risk score as expected. Therefore, HL in patients with CVD risk should be improved and considered as an important issue in terms of CVD reduction.