Introduction

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rare but fatal disease, and there is no known annual incidence of NF in Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and seasonal variation of NF in Korea.

Methods

We analysed claims from the nationwide Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. Patients who were hospitalized with an NF diagnosis code and received surgical intervention were classified as NF cases. Poisson regression models were used to assess the relationships of incidence rates with year, age and sex. A multivariate Poisson regression model was used to investigate variations in monthly NF incidence trends.

Results

From 2012 to 2017, the overall average annual NF incidence rate was found to be 0.86 per 100 000 population. NF incidence increased with age and was 2.5 times higher among males across all age groups. Two-thirds of cases occurred among patients with diabetes. The peak NF incidence occurred during the summer. Multivariate Poisson regression modelling using national meteorological variables suggested that mean temperatures and number of NF cases in the previous month were associated with the number of NF cases in the current month.

Discussion

Clinicians should consider NF when encountering an elderly man with diabetes during the summer.

中文翻译：

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韩国坏死性筋膜炎的发病率和季节性变化：一项全国性的横断面研究。

介绍

坏死性筋膜炎（NF）是一种罕见但致命的疾病，在韩国尚无NF的年发病率。这项研究的目的是调查韩国NF的发生率和季节性变化。

方法

我们分析了来自韩国全国健康保险审查与评估服务数据库的索赔。住院有NF诊断码并接受手术干预的患者被分类为NF病例。使用泊松回归模型评估发病率与年，年龄和性别之间的关系。使用多元Poisson回归模型调查每月NF发生趋势的变化。

结果

从2012年到2017年，发现NF的总体平均年平均发病率为每10万人中0.86。NF发生率随年龄增长而增加，在所有年龄段的男性中NF发生率均高2.5倍。三分之二的病例发生在糖尿病患者中。NF的峰值发生在夏季。使用国家气象变量的多元Poisson回归模型表明，上个月的平均温度和NF病例数与当月的NF病例数相关。

讨论区

在夏季遇到糖尿病的老人时，临床医生应考虑NF。