Risk of herpes zoster infection in men with varicocele

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Several diseases have been identified as stressful factors for herpes zoster (HZ) infection. In this study, we investigated the risk of HZ infection in men with varicocele.

Methods

We enlisted the data of patients with newly diagnosed varicocele between 2000 and 2012 from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database as case cohort. Four control patients were matched as per age and index year to a case patient. HZ diagnosis was the primary end point, and the follow-up period was considered as the time interval from the index date to the main outcome, withdrawal from the National Health Insurance program, or end of the study (31 December 2013).

Results

In total, 8720 patients were recruited (1744 with varicocele and 6976 controls); the overall mean age was 36 years. Majority (85%) of the participants were 20–49 years old. HZ incidence was higher in patients with varicocele (5.60 per 1,000 person-years) than in the control group (4.01 per 1,000 person years). Patients with varicocele were 1.37 times more likely to develop HZ than the controls after adjustment. Compared with the control cohort, the adjusted hazards ratio (HR) of the varicocele cohort was higher in patients younger than 49 years old (adjusted HR = 1.60).

Conclusion

Men with varicocele had a higher risk of HZ development than those without varicocele, particularly those aged ≤49 years. Thus, stress from varicocele cannot be ignored in young men.

KEYWORDS:

• Varicocele
• herpes zoster
• depression
• cohort study

Acknowledgments

None stated

Declaration of financial/other relationships

The authors on the study have no conflicts of interest. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported in part by Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare Clinical Trial Center [MOHW109-TDU-B-212-114,004], China Medical University Hospital [CMU107-ASIA-19; DMR-110-089]; MOST Clinical Trial Consortium for Stroke [MOST 108-2321-B-039-003-], Tseng-Lien Lin Foundation, Taichung, Taiwan. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding was received for this study.