Patients with Epididymo-Orchitis and Meteorological Impact in Taiwan: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Is there any association of COVID-19 with testicular pain and epididymo-orchitis?

AIMS

This study aims to analyse the novel Coronavirus disease- (COVID-19) related testicular pain in hospitalised patients because of COVID-19 and to review as an aetiological factor for epididymitis, orchitis or both.

METHODS

A total of 91 patients were included in the study. A questionnaire was formed for the questioning of testicular pain or epididymo-orchitis in patients with COVID-19. Demographics and past medical history was also recorded. Patients' neutrophil and lymphocyte counts, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratios (NLR), C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and D-dimer values were recorded. Patients with COVID-19 were divided into two groups according to absence or presence of testicular pain or epididymo-orchitis as group 1 and group 2. All results were compared for both groups.

RESULTS

The median age of patients was similar in both groups. Testicular pain was occurred in 10.98% of the patients. Clinical presentation of epididymo-orchitis was diagnosed in only one patient. No statistically significant difference was reported in terms of patients' age, levels of CRP and D-Dimer or NLR and results of questionnaire form queries between the two groups (P > .05).

CONCLUSION

Testicular pain was observed more frequently in hospitalised COVID-19 cases. While no inflammation marker which is related to predict of testicular pain or epididymo-orchitis was found in patients with COVID-19.

Incidence of autoimmune diseases in patients with scabies: a nationwide population-based study in Taiwan

Scabies is a commonly occurring infectious immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. Immune-mediated inflammatory processes are also observed in autoimmune diseases. There have been very few previous studies; however, that have investigated the possible association between scabies and autoimmune diseases. To address this research gap, we conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study that included a total of 4481 scabies patients and 16,559 control subjects matched by gender, age, insured region, urbanization and income. We tracked both cohorts for a 7-year period to identify the incidence of autoimmune diseases in both groups during that follow-up period. Relatedly, a Cox regression analysis was performed to calculate and compare the hazard ratio (HR) for autoimmune diseases of both groups. An overall increased risk for 19 autoimmune diseases was observed in the scabies patients, with an adjusted HR (aHR) of 1.14 (95% CI 1.04-1.25). Compared with the control group, the scabies patients exhibited increased risks of hypersensitivity vasculitis (aHR 5.44, 95% CI 1.64-18.07), dermatomyositis (aHR 4.91, 95% CI 1.80-13.38), polyarteritis nodosa (aHR 2.89, 95% CI 1.46-5.73), systemic lupus erythematosus (aHR 2.73, 95% CI 1.33-5.64), psoriasis (aHR 2.31, 95% CI 1.85-2.88), myasthenia gravis (aHR 2.01, 95% CI 1.31-3.12), type 1 diabetes mellitus (aHR 1.93, 95% CI 1.53-2.44), pernicious anemia (aHR 1.92, 95% CI 1.42-2.61), and rheumatoid arthritis (aHR 1.43, 95% CI 1.12-1.83). In conclusion, the associations between scabies and a variety of autoimmune diseases may exist. Further studies are needed to clarify the shared etiologies and relationships between scabies and autoimmune diseases.