Epidemiology and long-term disease burden of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia in Taiwan: a population-based, propensity score-matched cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The objectives of this study were to characterize the burden of herpes zoster, as well as the longitudinal and incremental changes of healthcare service utilization among individuals with herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) compared to those without.

Methods

Using the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), we established a herpes zoster cohort of people diagnosed with herpes zoster between 2004 and 2008 as study cases. Another subset of the NHIRD, which was randomly selected from all elderly beneficiaries between 2004 and 2008 served as a non-herpes-zoster elderly control pool. Each case was then assigned one matched control according to age, gender, index date and propensity score. PHN cases were defined as those with persisting pain for

SUBMITTER: Lu WH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5859733 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature