Liao C.-C.TA-CHEN SUSung F.-C.Chou W.-H.Chen T.-L.2020-09-282020-09-2820121932-6203https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84857438321&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0031527&partnerID=40&md5=a25318345195c61997b698e0f56eaccdhttps://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/514816Background: The relationship between hepatitis C virus infection and risk of stroke remains inconsistent. This study evaluates the risk of stroke in association with chronic hepatitis C infection in a longitudinal population-based cohort. Methods: We identified 4,094 adults newly diagnosed with hepatitis C infection in 2002-2004 from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Comparison group consisted of 16,376 adults without hepatitis C infection randomly selected from the same dataset, frequency matched by age and sex. Events of stroke from 2002-2008 were ascertained from medical claims (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, ICD-9-CM, codes 430-438). Multivariate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for potential associated factors including HCV infection, age, sex, low-income status, urbanization, cessation of cigarette smoking, alcohol-related illness, obesity, history of chronic diseases and medication use. Findings: During 96,752 person-years of follow-up, there were 1981 newly diagnosed stroke cases. The HRs of stroke associated with medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease were 1.48 (95% CI 1.33 to 1.65), 1.23 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.36) and 1.17 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.30), respectively, after adjustment for covariates. The cumulative risk of stroke for people with hepatitis C and without hepatitis C infections was 2.5% and 1.9%, respectively (p<0.0001). Compared with people without hepatitis C infection, the adjusted HR of stroke was 1.27 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.41) for people with hepatitis C infection. Conclusion: Chronic hepatitis C infection increases stroke risk and should be considered an important and independent risk factor. ? 2012 Liao et al.[SDGs]SDG3dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase inhibitor; hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor; adult; age; aged; alcohol consumption; article; cerebrovascular accident; chronic disease; cohort analysis; controlled study; diabetes mellitus; disease association; drug use; female; follow up; general aspects of disease; health insurance; heart disease; hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; human; hypertension; international classification of diseases; longitudinal study; lowest income group; major clinical study; male; obesity; population research; risk assessment; sex; smoking cessation; Taiwan; urbanization; confidence interval; demography; hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; incidence; middle aged; multivariate analysis; physiology; proportional hazards model; risk factor; stroke; Taiwan; virology; Adult; Aged; Cohort Studies; Confidence Intervals; Demography; Female; Hepacivirus; Hepatitis C; Humans; Incidence; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Proportional Hazards Models; Risk Factors; Stroke; Taiwan; Young Adultjournal article10.1371/journal.pone.0031527223636622-s2.0-84857438321