Pinworm infections associated with risk of psychiatric disorders-A nationwide cohort study in Taiwan

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the association between males with pinworm infections and the risk of developing psychiatric disorders. Method: A total of 2044 enrolled patients, with 511 pinworm subjects and 1533 unexposed subjects (1:3) matched for sex, age and index year, from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID) from 2000 to 2015, selected from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). After adjusting for confounding factors, the Cox regression model was used to compare the risk of developing psychiatric disorders during the 15 years of follow-up. Results: Of all the enrollees, 24 in the pinworm cohort and 18 in the unexposed cohort (343.10 vs 84.96 per 100,000 person-year) developed psychiatric disorders. The Cox regression model revealed that, after adjusting for sex, age, monthly income, urbanization level, geographic region, and comorbidities, the adjusted HR was 4.581 (95% CI: 2.214–9.480, p < .001, p < .001). Pinworm infections were associated with the increased risk in anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and sleep disorders, respectively. Conclusion: Patients who suffered from pinworm infections have a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders, and this finding should be considered as a timely reminder for the clinicians to provide much more attention for these patients because of their mental health issues.