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Patients with comorbidities and advanced diseases may be at higher risk of NCHEs. Because NCHEs are sometimes life-threatening, every effort should be made to avoid unexpected non-cancer-associated mortality in the HNSCC patients.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels and lung function in a community-based cohort of South Korea.DESIGN: The Ansung-Ansan cohort database (an ongoing prospective study of a community-based population) was used in the analysis. We defined airway obstruction as the ratio between forced expiratory volume in 1 sec:forced vital capacity ratio (FEV1:FVC) of <95% of the predicted value for a healthy person. We also used the serum level of hs-CRP as a marker of inflammation. Multivariate analysis was performed with adjustment for the clinical characteristics of the participants.RESULTS: A total of 5528 individuals were eligible for the study. The average age was 55.1 years, and 47.8% were males. The prevalence of airway obstruction was 9.0%, and the mean hs-CRP level was 1.51 mg/dl. Serum hs-CRP levels increased with the severity of airway obstruction, and the latter worsened with an increase in the hs-CRP level. In multivariate analysis, as the hs-CRP level increased, FEV1 and FVC decreased. A higher FEV1:FVC ratio was associated with lower hs-CRP levels in males.CONCLUSION: Higher hs-CRP levels were associated with decreased FEV1 and FVC in a general population of Korea. The FEV1:FVC ratio decreased with an increase in the hs-CRP level in males.

Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has a risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared with healthy controls, which justify prophylaxis in practice. There are few data on VTE in Asian IBD patients including Koreans. We aimed to investigate the incidence of VTE and the potential risk factors in Korean IBD patients. Methods A nationwide population-based cohort study was performed using claims data from the National Health Insurance service in Korea for 10 years, from 2006 to 2015. VTE, Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) were operationally defined by using ICD-10 codes, codes for Rare and Intractable Diseases registration, and pharmaceutical prescriptions for IBD-specific drugs. Control group was defined as age- and sex-matched health insurance subscribers without IBD for the same period. The hazard ratio (HR) for the risk of VTE was calculated after adjusting for covariates such as age, sex, rural area, comorbidities, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), admission, and therapeutic drugs use for IBD using multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression. Results A total of 45,037 patients were diagnosed with IBD (13,850 CD and 31,187 UC), and 133,019 were defined as controls. VTE occurred in 411 (0.91%) in IBD, 106 (0.76%) in CD, and 305 (0.98%) in UC, whereas 641 (0.48%) in controls. In univariate analysis among IBD patients, old age (&gt;59 years: HR = 6.256), female sex (HR = 1.537), low income (HR = 1.3090), high CCI (&gt;3 score: HR = 4.053), steroid use (HR = 1.872), emergency care (HR = 1.513) and hospitalisation (HR = 1.352) significantly increased a risk of VTE. However, anti-TNF agent use (HR = 0.611) significantly decreased a risk of VTE. In multivariate analysis with adjustment among all subjects, CD (HR = 15.833) and UC (HR = 8.125) significantly increased a risk of VTE compared with controls. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that VTE is significantly high in Korean IBD patients compared with controls. In addition, old age, female sex, low income, high CCI, steroid use, emergency care, and hospitalisation are suggested as risk factors of VTE in IBD. Interestingly, use of anti-TNF agents may reduce risk of VTE, which should be considered for prophylaxis strategy suitable for Korean IBD patients.