title: Association of physical trauma with risk of herpes zoster among Medicare beneficiaries in the United States.
abstract: Risk factors for herpes zoster (HZ) are poorly defined. An age-matched, case-control study was conducted to assess the effect of physical trauma on HZ, using Medicare data. HZ cases were 3.4 times as likely as controls to have experienced trauma in the week before HZ onset, but the magnitude of the association between trauma and HZ declined over time. Cases who had cranial HZ were >25 times as likely as controls to have had cranial trauma in the week before HZ onset. Therefore, recent trauma can be a trigger for HZ.
authors: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA. jbz2@cdc.gov
authors: John X
authors: JX
authors: Zhang
authors: Riduan M
authors: RM
authors: Joesoef
authors: Stephanie
authors: S
authors: Bialek
authors: Chengbin
authors: C
authors: Wang
authors: Rafael
authors: R
authors: Harpaz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005121:Extremities; D005260:Female; D006257:Head; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D060726:Torso; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*