Risk of Herpes Zoster in CKD: A Matched-Cohort Study Based on Administrative Data
American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 05/11/2012  Clinical Article

Wu MY et al. – This population–based cohort study indicated that patients with chronic kidney disease are at increased risk of herpes zoster compared with the general population.

• Data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID) for 2004-2006 were analyzed.
• The study cohort included patients 18 years or older given a diagnosis of CKD (excluding patients treated by dialysis or transplant) in 2004-2005 (n = 13,321).
• The comparison cohort (n = 66,605) included 5 randomly selected age- and sex-matched controls for each patient in the study cohort.
• Incident cases of CKD were identified using the Taiwan LHID.
• CKD was ascertained from International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes.

• Herpes zoster, ascertained from ICD-9-CM codes.
• All participants were followed up from the date of cohort entry until they developed herpes zoster or the end of 2006.
• Cox proportional hazard regressions were performed to compare the hazard rates of herpes zoster in the CKD cohort and the age- and sex-matched comparison cohort.