Epidemiologic evaluation of pulmonary paragonimiasis in Japan using a Japanese nationwide administrative database

Issei Ikushima; Kei Yamasaki; Masahiro Tahara; Kazuki Nemoto; Kentaro Akata; Hiroaki Ikegami; Chinatsu Nishida; Keiji Muramatsu; Yoshihisa Fujino; Shinya Matsuda; Kiyohide Fushimi; Hiroshi Mukae; Kazuhiro Yatera

doi:10.1016/j.jiac.2024.01.005

Epidemiologic evaluation of pulmonary paragonimiasis in Japan using a Japanese nationwide administrative database

J Infect Chemother. 2024 Jan 12:S1341-321X(24)00007-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jiac.2024.01.005. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, Kitakyushu, Japan.
² Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, Kitakyushu, Japan. Electronic address: yamasaki@med.uoeh-u.ac.jp.
³ Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, Kitakyushu, Japan.
⁴ Department of Environmental Epidemiology, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, Kitakyushu, Japan.
⁵ Department of Health Policy and Informatics, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.

PMID: 38219980
DOI: 10.1016/j.jiac.2024.01.005

Abstract

Background: Paragonimiasis is a parasitic disease primarily contracted through consumption of undercooked freshwater crustaceans or wild boar meat. Large-scale nationwide epidemiological data on paragonimiasis are lacking. In this study, we aimed to investigate the nationwide epidemiology of hospitalized patients with paragonimiasis in Japan using a comprehensive nationwide Japanese administrative database.

Methods: We evaluated the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) data of patients diagnosed with pulmonary paragonimiasis between April 1, 2012 and March 30, 2020. The patients' address and information, including age, sex, treatment (medication: praziquantel; surgery: open thoracotomy or intracranial mass extirpation), Japan coma scale, comorbidities, and length of hospital stay, were extracted.

Results: Of the 49.6 million hospitalized patients, data were extracted on 73 patients with paragonimiasis, of whom 36 were male and 37 were female. The mean age was 49.7 years and the mean length of stay was 12.5 days. The most frequent comorbidity was pleural effusion (31.5 %), followed by pneumothorax (13.7 %). The sites of ectopic paragonimiasis in organs other than the lung included the liver (5.5 %), skin (4.1 %), and brain (2.7 %). Geographically, most patients were from the Kyushu region (54.8 %), followed by the Kanto region (22.0 %). Fukuoka Prefecture had the highest number of patients (22.0 %) by prefecture. During the study period, an average of 9.1 patients/year were hospitalized with lung paragonimiasis in Japan.

Conclusion: Paragonimiasis has not completely disappeared in Japan; thus, physicians should be aware of paragonimiasis in the Kyushu region, especially in the Fukuoka Prefecture.

Keywords: Ectopic paragonimiasis; Japanese diagnosis procedure combination data; Pulmonary paragonimiasis.

Copyright © 2024 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.