Name

Wen-Hsiu Liu

E - mail

jrain100@yahoo.com.tw

Thesis title

Comparing the incidence of the top ten leading cause of disease among religious, low-income and general population in Taiwan.

Publication

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Abstract

Background: The effects of religious on psychic state and quality of life have been reported, but few studies have focused on the association between religion and diseases. Objective: This study aimed at establishing the association of religion, low-income and general population with diseases, including top ten leading diseases and psychiatric disorders. Material and methods：The study included subjects insured in 2005 who were above 30 years. Their data were retrieved from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Individuals insured from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2010 were classified into three groups: religious, low-income and general population who were followed to assess the risk and incidence of disease. Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the risk of developing top ten leading diseases and psychiatric disorders while adjustments were made for gender, age, insurance area and history. Results：This study had 1,081,333 participants consisting of 401 religious, 7,454 low-income and 1,073,478 general population. After adjusting for confounders with general population as the reference group, the HRs among the religious population were 1.56 for cardiovascular disease, 1.02 for cerebrovascular accident, 1.54 for pneumonia, 1.75 for chronic liver disease and liver cirrhosis, 1.55 for bronchitis, emphysema and asthma and 1.59 for cancer. However, the HRs among the low-income population were 1.29 for diabetes, 1.34 for cardiovascular disease, 1.58 for cerebral vascular accident, 2.20 for pneumonia, 1.26 for chronic liver disease and liver cirrhosis, 1.59 for hypertension, 1.54 for bronchitis, emphysema and asthma, 1.67 for nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephropathy, 1.10 for cancer and 1.57 for psychiatric disorders. Conclusion：The study showed that the religious group had a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, chronic liver disease and liver cirrhosis, bronchitis, emphysema and asthma and cancer., than the general population. . The low-income population had a greater risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cerebral vascular accident, pneumonia, liver disease and liver cirrhosis, hypertension, bronchitis, emphysema and asthma, nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephropathy, cancer and psychiatric disorders than the general population. Therefore, religious and low income population have influences on disease development and psychiatric disorders

Name

Hsuan-Wei Kao

E - mail

kao1587@hotmail.com

Thesis title

Association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and oral cancer in Taiwanese men

Publication

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Abstract

Objective: The effects of living habits such as betel-quid chewing, smoking and alcohol drinking on subsequent oral cancer development have been reported, but few studies have focused on the association between air pollutants and oral cancer. This study investigated the association between fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), nitrate (NO3-), ammonium (NH4+) and element carbon (EC) and oral cancer in Taiwanese men. Material and methods: Pollution data were retrieved from air quality monitoring stations and supersite database established by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), Taiwan. The air quality of eight pollutants including sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter (PM10) and PM2.5 from 2006 to 2011 was monitored and annual average concentrations were calculated. The monitoring stations were from 70 EPA air quality monitoring stations from different municipalities. Annual average concentrations of NO3-, NH4+ and EC components of PM2.5 in 2005 were retrieved from the EPA supersite. Data of patients with oral cancer were extracted from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), the Cause of Death Database and the Online Interactive Data Query for Cancer Registration operated by Taiwan government. Data on betel-quid chewing and smoking status were retrieved from the 2009 National Health Interview Survey (2009 NHIS), Taiwan and 2009 Smoking Behavior Survey, Taiwan. Air pollutant concentrations stratified into quartile groups. Poisson regression model was used to assess the risk of oral cancer while adjustments were made for other air pollutants, betel-quid chewing and smoking. Results: After adjusting for cofounders with PM2.5 <26.45μg/m3 as the reference group, the RRs of oral cancer were 1.26 for concentration between 32.51 and 40.44 μg/m3 and 1.32 for PM2.5 ≧40.44 μg/m3. For the PM2.5 components, the RRs of oral cancer were 1.46 for nitrate concentration of 1 μg/m3, and 17.21 for carbon concentration of 1 μg/m3. Conclusion: The study shows that nitrate, element carbon and higher concentration of PM2.5 were associated with increased risk of oral cancer in Taiwanese men.