Background: The association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the risk of herpes zoster (HZ) remains unclear. This study investigated the risk of HZ in women with PCOS. Methods: This study used data from the Longitudinal Generation Tracking Database (LGTD 2005) which contains the information of 2 million randomly selected from National Health Insurance beneficiaries. Patients who received a diagnosis of PCOS between 2000 and 2017 were included in the PCOS cohort. Patients who were not diagnosed as having PCOS were randomly selected from the LGTD 2005 and included in the control cohort. Patients who were aged <20 years and had a history of HZ before the index date were excluded. Patients who were in both the cohorts were matched at a ratio of 1:1 through propensity score matching based on age, comorbidities, and medication. The primary outcome was the diagnosis of HZ. Results: A total of 20,142 patients were included in each case and control cohorts. The incidence rates of HZ in the PCOS and control cohorts were 3.92 and 3.17 per 1000 person-years, respectively. The PCOS cohort had a significantly higher risk of HZ than did the control cohort (adjusted hazard ratios [aHR] = 1.26). Among the patients aged 30–39 years, those with PCOS had a significantly higher risk of HZ than did those without PCOS (aHR = 1.31). Among the patients without any comorbidities, those with PCOS had a significantly higher risk of HZ (aHR = 1.26) than did those without PCOS. Conclusion: PCOS is associated with the risk of HZ, especially in young women. The risk of HZ should be addressed while treating patients with PCOS. An HZ vaccine is recommended for these patients.

Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), a global health problem, is typically caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Herpes zoster (HZ) is caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The reactivation of VZV can be caused by stress. We investigated whether pulmonary TB increases the risk of HZ development. Methods: This study used data that sampled a population of 2 million people in 2000 from the National Health Insurance Research Database. This cohort study observed Taiwanese patients aged 20–100 years with pulmonary TB from 2000 to 2017 (tracked to 2018). Pulmonary TB was defined as having two or more outpatient diagnoses or at least one admission record. To address potential bias caused by confounding factors, the control cohort and pulmonary TB cohort were matched 1:1 by age, gender, index year, and comorbidities. Patients with HZ before the index date were excluded. Results: A total of 30,805 patients were in the pulmonary TB and control cohorts. The incidence rate of HZ in pulmonary TB and control cohorts were 12.00 and 9.66 per 1000 person-years, respectively. The risk of HZ in the pulmonary TB cohort (adjusted hazard ratios = 1.23; 95% confidence interval = 1.16–1.30) was significantly higher than that of in control cohort. Among patients without comorbidities, the patients with TB were 1.28-fold more likely to have HZ than those without TB. Conclusion: Patients with TB should be well treated to avoid the potential risk of HZ occurrence. Although we identified the association between pulmonary TB and HZ, further studies are needed to confirm the result.

Background The reactivation of herpes zoster (HZ) is associated with disease stress. However, the relationship between chondromalacia patella (CMP) and HZ remains poorly understood. This study investigated the relationship between CMP and the risk of developing HZ. Methods Data were collected from the Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients with CMP diagnosed between 2000 and 2017 were assigned to the case group; patients without CMP were randomly selected from the same database and paired with controls matched by age and sex. The primary outcome was a diagnosis of HZ. All patients were followed until their diagnosis of HZ, their withdrawal from the NHI program, their death, or the end of 2017, whichever was earliest. The risk of developing HZ was compared between the case and control groups. Results In total, 22,710 patients with CMP and 90,840 matched controls were enrolled. The overall incidence rates of HZ in the CMP and control cohorts were 7.94 and 7.35 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. After potential confounders were controlled for, the case group exhibited a higher risk of HZ than did the control group [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.06, p < 0.05]. In a stratification analysis by age, patients over 65 years old in the CMP group exhibited a higher risk of HZ than did those in the control group (aHR = 1.22, p < 0.01). In a stratification analysis by sex, women with CMP were at greater risk of developing HZ than women without CMP (aHR = 1.18, p < 0.01). Conclusion Patients with CMP, especially elder adults and women, exhibited a higher risk of HZ. The HZ risk of patients with CMP should thus be assessed, and the necessity of HZ vaccination should be informed.