title: A population based study of the epidemiology of Herpes Zoster and its complications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the incidence of Herpes Zoster (HZ) and its complications in the Israeli general population and specifically in immune-compromised individuals, and to identify risk factors for developing HZ and post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective database search for newly diagnosed cases of HZ and of PHN during 2006-2010 was conducted using the comprehensive longitudinal database of Maccabi Health Services. Cox-proportional hazards models were used to assess associations between risk factors and HZ and PHN.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During 2006-2010 there were 28,977 newly diagnosed cases of HZ and 1508 newly diagnosed cases of PHN. Incidence density rate of HZ was 3.46 per 1000 person-years in the total population and 12.8 per 1000 person-years in immune-compromised patients. HZ and PHN incidence increased sharply with age. 12.4% and 3.1% of elderly HZ patients (≥ 65 years) developed PHN or ophthalmic complications, respectively. In multivariable analyses, HZ and PHN were associated with female sex, higher socioeconomic status, diabetes mellitus, cancer history, and HIV treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Extrapolating to the entire Israeli population, we estimate over 24,000 new cases of HZ and 1250 new cases of PHN each year. Cost-effectiveness analysis should be performed to determine the threshold age for vaccination against HZ.
authors.affiliation: Maccabi Healthcare Services, Medical Division, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: weitzman_d@mac.org.il.
authors.forename: Dahlia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weitzman
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shavit
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: Raanan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chodick
authors.forename: Varda
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Shalev
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051474:Neuralgia, Postherpetic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Herpes Zoster; Incidence; Neuralgia; Postherpetic; Risk factors