By removing or reducing both visual and somatosensory inputs from foam posturography, the remaining vestibular cue, represented as RQ of sway area on foam pad, may reflect utricular function.

Background: To investigate the standardized incidence ratios (SIR) of stroke in patients with head and neck cancer and their relationship to radiotherapy. Methods: Patients with head and neck cancer ages 20–85 years were enrolled from 2007 to 2016 using the Taiwan Cancer Registry. The study endpoint was fatal and non-fatal ischemic stroke, ascertained by the National Health Insurance Research Database. Age- and sex-adjusted SIRs, categorized by 10-year age standardization, were used to compare the patients with head and neck cancer with a randomly selected 2,000,000 general population. We compared the risk of stroke in patients with head and neck cancer who received radiotherapy or surgery alone. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained from Cox regression analysis with competing risk. Results: Among 41,266 patients (mean age, 54.1 years; men, 90.6%) in the median follow-up period of 3.9 years, 1,407 strokes occurred. Compared with the general population, the overall SIR of stroke was 1.37 (95% CI, 1.30–1.44) in patients with head and neck cancer. In patients with head and neck cancer, the fully adjusted HR of stroke in those who received radiotherapy was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.83–1.10), compared with those who received surgery alone. Conclusions: Patients with head and neck cancer had a higher risk of fatal or non-fatal ischemic stroke. The risk of stroke was not higher in patients initially treated with radiotherapy. Impact: Oncologists should emphasize stroke prevention in all patients with head and neck cancer, not only in those who received radiotherapy.

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The etiology of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) has been unclear until now. Understanding its potential etiology is crucial for the development of preventive medicine. In this study, we investigated the association between acute upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) and SSNHL risk. We conducted a case-crossover study by using the longitudinal health insurance database derived from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Individual acute URI between the case and control periods was reviewed. Multivariable conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of SSNHL risk associated with acute URIs after adjustments for potential confounders. In total, 1131 patients with SSNHL between 2010 and 2013 fulfilled our inclusion criteria and were included. The aOR (95% confidence interval [CI]) for SSNHL was 1.57 (1.20–2.05) in relation to acute URIs one month before the index date. Moreover, the aORs (95% CIs) of the female and young to middle-aged (≤65 years) populations were 1.63 (1.13–2.36) and 1.76 (1.29–2.40), respectively. In addition, the association between SSNHL and acute URIs was decreased over time. The aOR for SSNHL was 1.25 (1.01–1.56) in relation to acute URIs three months before the index date. A cute URIs increase SSNHL risk and are a potential risk factor for SSNHL. The establishment of a feasible health policy for the prevention of acute URIs is crucial for SSNHL prevention, particularly in female, and young to middle-aged populations.