Elevation of ambient temperature is associated with an increased risk of herpes zoster: a time-series analysis

Evaluating public interest in herpes zoster in Germany by leveraging the internet: a retrospective search data analysis

BACKGROUND

Herpes zoster (HZ) and its complication postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), whose incidence are both expected to increase with an ageing population, have demonstrated high costs on healthcare systems and burden on individual quality of life. Previous studies have shown the possibility of assessing public interest in a disease and factors that influence search behaviour using internet search data. The aim of this study was to analyze internet search data for HZ in Germany to evaluate public interest in the disease and relevant influential temporal and geographic factors that modify search behavior.

METHODS

Google Ads Keyword Planner was used to generate a list of HZ-related keywords including their search volume for Germany as a whole and its sixteen federal states from October 2016 to September 2020. All keywords were qualitatively categorized, and changes over time and correlations with population density, physician density, and vaccination rates were assessed using Welch's ANOVA, Bonferroni correction for post-hoc analyses, and Pearson's correlation.

RESULTS

A total of 1,651 relevant keywords with a search volume of 20,816,210 searches were identified. Overall, national search volume increased each year of the study period with a peak in August 2020. More than half of the total search volume related to general queries (55.1%). The highest average monthly search volumes were observed in the states of Hamburg, Saarland, and Bremen. Average monthly search volume showed strong positive correlations with population density (r = .512, p = .043) and a strong negative correlation with the number of inhabitants per working physician (r = -.689, p = .003).

CONCLUSIONS

The study demonstrated that evaluating internet search data is a viable method for assessing public interest in HZ, thereby identifying areas of unmet need to support targeted public health campaigns.

Association between Meteorological Factors and Outpatient Visits for Herpes Zoster in Hefei, China: A Time-Series Analysis

This study sought to investigate the relationship between meteorological factors and outpatient visits for herpes zoster. In this time-series analysis, we used data from two major hospitals in Hefei, collected between 2015 and 2019, to evaluate the impact of meteorological factors on the risk of herpes zoster. After controlling for confounders, we adopted a distributed lag nonlinear model to probe the relationship between meteorological factors and outpatient visits for herpes zoster. The analysis was stratified according to age (<40 years, ≥40 years) and sex (male, female). A total of 43,547 cases of herpes zoster were reported, and compared with the median value, a high temperature and high relative humidity had a significant risk effect on the incidence of herpes zoster. The maximum harmful effect of high temperature on herpes zoster occurred on the lag0 (RR: 1.027, 95% CI: 1.002-1.053) and further declined over the following days. The cumulative effect increased with the extension of lag days, and the cumulative RR was the largest on the sixth day of lag (RR1.031, 95% CI: 1.006-1.056) when the relative humidity was 85.7% (77.0% as the reference). The stratified analysis results reveal that females and the elderly (≥40 years) were more susceptible to temperature and relative humidity. This study shows that high-temperatures may lead to herpes zoster, indicating that those infected with varicella zoster virus need to take measures over the course of several days when not exposed to the best appropriate temperature conditions.

Pattern of Skin Diseases in Geriatric Population: Our Year-Long Experience from Nepal

Introduction:

The average life span has increased by about two decades in Nepal in last 30 years. With increasing longevity, geriatric health care is gaining much more importance. The statistical data regarding the geriatric skin disorders in Nepalese population is limited. The aim of this study to look for the patterns of skin diseases in the geriatric population of Nepal.

Methodology:

This is a retrospective, descriptive study where we reviewed the database of patients visiting the dermatology outpatient department of multispeciality teaching hospital in Nepal from August 2016 to July 2017. All patients from the age of 60 and above were included in the study. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Chi square test was done where relevant.

Result:

Total of 918 patients were included in the study with mean age of 69 years. Most common presentation was that of dermatitis (32.2%) which was followed by infectious condition (29.4%), pruritus (7.4%), psoriasis (4.6%), urticaria (3.9%), miliaria (3.9%) and others. Among the dermatitis, 23% of the patients had hand or feet eczema and 23% had sebohrreic dermatitis. Variability according to weather was noticed with in presentation of sebohrreic dermatitis, dermatophytic infections, miliaria and herpes zoster.

Conclusion:

This study concludes that dermatitis, infections and pruritus are the most significant dermatological morbidities in our population. It highlights the need of zoster vaccine for our elderly population as it is not a part of the routine vaccination scheme in Nepal.

Colombian Ocular Infectious Epidemiology Study (COIES): Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus prevalence and sociodemographic characterization, 2015-2019

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus (HZO) and describe the sociodemographic disease distribution by age, sex, and region in Colombia using National Health Registry data between January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2019.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study using the Integrated Social Protection Information System database from the Colombian Ministry of Health, the unique official database in the country. We used the specific code of the International Classification of Diseases for HZO (B02.3) from 2015-2019 to estimate the prevalence and the demographic status of the disease in Colombia.

RESULTS

The average prevalence was 0.99 in 100,000 inhabitants. Females represented 54.44% of the cases from 2.378 included patients. The distribution by age has a continual increasing distribution from the quinquennial age group of 55 years. The geographic analysis shows a higher disease burden in the Andean region, followed by the Caribbean and Pacific regions.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study that determines the HZO epidemiological characteristic based on a National Health database in our region. We found an age distribution similar to previous studies and bore out that higher altitudes correlate with a higher burden of the disease.

Infectious Respiratory Diseases Decreased during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea

Infectious respiratory diseases are highly contagious and very common, and thus can be considered as one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. We followed up the incidence rates (IRs) of eight infectious respiratory diseases, including chickenpox, measles, pertussis, mumps, invasive pneumococcal disease, scarlet fever, rubella, and meningococcal disease, after COVID-19 mitigation measures were implemented in South Korea, and then compared those with the IRs in the corresponding periods in the previous 3 years. Overall, the IRs of these diseases before and after age- or sex-standardization significantly decreased in the intervention period compared with the pre-intervention periods (p < 0.05 for all eight diseases). However, the difference in the IRs of all eight diseases between the IRs before and after age-standardization was significant (p < 0.05 for all periods), while it was not significant with regard to sex-standardization. The incidence rate ratios for eight diseases in the pre-intervention period compared with the intervention period ranged from 3.1 to 4.1. These results showed the positive effects of the mitigation measures on preventing the development of respiratory infectious diseases, regardless of age or sex, but we need to consider the age-structure of the population to calculate the effect size. In the future, some of these measures could be applied nationwide to prevent the occurrence or to reduce the transmission during outbreaks of these infections. This study provides evidence for strengthening the infectious disease management policies in South Korea.

The impacts of ambient temperature and ultraviolet radiation on the incidence of herpes zoster: An ecological study in Taiwan

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between ambient temperature, ultraviolet radiation, and the development of herpes zoster in Taiwan. An ecological study was conducted to analyse the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Programme. Participants aged ≥20 years with newly diagnosed herpes zoster between 2003 and 2012 were selected for analysis. The monthly incidence rate of herpes zoster was measured between 2003 and 2012. Monthly average ambient temperature in Celsius (°C) between 2003 and 2012 was measured according to the official database of the Central Weather Bureau in Taiwan. Monthly accumulated ultraviolet radiation (MJ m^-2 ) between 2003 and 2012 was measured according to the official database of the Environmental Protection Administration in Taiwan. The overall incidence rates of herpes zoster ranged from 2.54 to 5.67 per 10 000 persons per month from 2003 to 2012.The monthly average ambient temperature was higher and the monthly accumulated ultraviolet radiation was stronger from May to October. The incidence rates of herpes zoster seemed to be high during the period of high ambient temperature and strong ultraviolet radiation (from May to October).Whenever ambient temperature increased 1°C per month, the incidence rate of herpes zoster increased by 0.072 per 10,000 persons per month. Whenever ultraviolet radiation increased 1 MJ m^-2 per month, the incidence rate of herpes zoster increased by 0.313 per 10 000 persons per month. There is a significant association between ambient temperature, ultraviolet radiation, and the development of herpes zoster in Taiwan. The incidence rate of herpes zoster is high during the period of high ambient temperature and strong ultraviolet radiation. Low ambient temperature and weak ultraviolet radiation might be beneficial for the prevention of herpes zoster.