title: Prevalence of chronic diseases among physicians in Taiwan: a population-based cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The health of physicians is an important topic which needs to be addressed in order to provide the best quality of patient care. However, there are few studies on the prevalence of chronic diseases among physicians. In this study, we explored the prevalence of chronic diseases among physicians and compared the probability of chronic diseases between physicians and the general population using a population-based data set in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our study consisted of 1426 practising physicians and 5704 general participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  We chose 22 chronic diseases from the Elixhauser Comorbidity index and nine highly prevalent medical conditions in an Asian population for analysis. We used conditional logistic regression analyses to investigate the OR and its corresponding 95% CI of chronic diseases between these two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The conditional logistic regression analyses showed that physicians had lower odds of peripheral vascular disorders (OR=0.41, 95% CI=0.19 to 0.90), uncomplicated diabetes (OR=0.76, 95% CI=0.60 to 0.97), complicated diabetes (OR=0.53, 95% CI=0.34 to 0.83), renal failure (OR=0.41, 95% CI=0.19 to 0.90), liver diseases (OR=0.78, 95% CI=0.66 to 0.94), and hepatitis B or C (OR=0.62, 95% CI=0.49 to 0.77) and higher odds of hypertension (OR=1.21, 95% CI=1.03 to 1.41), hyperlipidaemia (OR=1.43, 95% CI=1.23 to 1.67) and asthma (OR=1.59, 95% CI=1.16 to 2.18) than the general population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that although physicians had decreased prevalence of some chronic diseases, they had a significantly increased prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and asthma.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Life Science, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Ting
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Life Science, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Lung
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Herng-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Chien
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Graduate Program in Biomedical Informatics, College of Informatics, Yuan-Ze University, Chungli, Taiwan Department of Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Banciao, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shiu-Dong
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; GENERAL MEDICINE (see Internal Medicine)