Seasonality of herpes zoster and herpes zoster ophthalmicus

J Clin Virol. 2020 May:126:104306. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104306. Epub 2020 Feb 26.

Abstract

Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) and herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) are common and debilitating diseases. There is no consensus in the literature whether HZ and HZO exhibit seasonal patterns.

Objectives: To determine whether HZ and HZO are seasonal.

Study design: All patients in the OptumLabs® Data Warehouse (OLDW), a longitudinal, insurance claims database with de-identified lives between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2017 with 365 days or more of continuous enrollment were considered in the study. The database was queried for patients reporting a new ICD-9/ICD-10 code for HZ or HZO and monthly counts of each administrative code were modeled using Morelet wavelets and analyzed for annual periodicity using Fisher's g test.

Results: There were a total of 513,911 new cases of HZ during this time period; 40,166 cases (7.8 %) were reported as HZO. Administrative coding for new cases of HZ exhibited annual periodicity (P < .001) with a peak in the summer. No periodicity was evident for HZO.

Conclusions: These results contribute to a growing body of evidence suggesting that HZ may be seasonal and help characterize the epidemiology of this common, painful disease.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Herpes zoster; Herpes zoster ophthalmicus; Seasonality; Shingles; Wavelets.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Databases, Factual
  • Herpes Zoster / epidemiology*
  • Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Seasons*