Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Pneumoconiosis: Results from a Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Pneumoconiosis (PCN) has several comorbidities, most notably pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. However, much is still unknown about the relationship between PCN and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The present study aimed to clarify the association between PCN and subsequent AMI risk using a retrospective cohort study design. Methods: This was a population-based, retrospective cohort study that used data from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Database. A total of 7556 newly diagnosed patients with PCN and 7556 individuals without PCN were included in the PCN and comparison cohort (PC and CC), respectively, between 2008 and 2018, with propensity score matching for age, gender, comorbidity, medication, and date of PCN diagnosis. The occurrence of AMI was monitored until the end of 2019, and AMI risk was assessed using Cox proportional hazard regression models. Results: The overall incidence of AMI was 1.34-fold higher in the PC than in the CC (4.33 vs. 3.23 per 1000 person-years, respectively, p < 0.05), with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 1.36 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08–1.72) after controlling for age, gender, comorbidity, and medication. Further analyses showed a higher risk of AMI with increased annual number of emergency department visits among patients with PCN (aHR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.01–1.66 (<1) and aHR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.13–2.50 (≥1)). Conclusion: Patients with PCN had a significantly higher risk of developing AMI than those without PCN. Clinicians should pay more attention to prevent AMI episodes in patients with PCN.

The Impact of Chronic Pancreatitis on the Occurrences of Human Cancers: Real-World Data

“…To identify patients with cancer, we employed the linked registry of the Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patient Database (RCIPD), also derived from the NHIRD in Taiwan. Disease diagnoses were categorized utilizing the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Revision, and Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM) coding systems, as previously described in our published works [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the China Medical University Hospital Research Ethics Committee (CMUH109-REC2-031(CR-2)).…”