We conducted this population-based case-control study
by using the administrative claims data sourced from theLongitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000
(LHID2000). The LHID2000 includes all the claims data
and registration files of 1 000 000 individuals randomly
sampled from the 2000 Registry for Beneficiaries of the
Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) program. The
Taiwan National Health Research Institute has validated
the representativeness of the gender distribution of the
LHID2000 relative to the whole population of NHI enrolees.
Therefore, the LHID2000 provides researchers the
opportunity to trace all the medical services of these
selected 1 000 000 individuals since the initiation of the
Taiwan NHI program in 1995.
An Institutional Review Board (IRB) exempted this
study from full review after consulting with the director
of the Taipei Medical University IRB as the LHID2000
consists of de-identified secondary data released to the
public for research purposes.
Selection of cases and controls