ABSTRACT
ansen's disease, death certificates of the inpatients of Sorokdo National Hospital between 2001 and 2008 and died during the same time period were used to analyze the causes of their death, and the morbidity patterns of those patients who are hospitalized in the same hospital as of 2008 were analyzed. The results are as follows: The average number of diseases per inpatient was 3.4 with the maximum being 10. The distribution of morbidity was 67.2% for circulatory diseases, 58.4% for musculoskeletal diseases, and 36.3% for infectious diseases and skin diseases respectively. The morbidity rank of all patients was 50.1% for primary hypertension, 34.4% for chronic viral hepatitis, 27.4% for arthritis, 27.2% for skin diseases, and 23.7% for cataracts. The age-standardized death rate of males per 100,000 was 557.6 for heart diseases, 500.2 for liver diseases, 460.5 for respiratory diseases, and 459.8 for cancers. The age-standardized death rate of females was 266.3 for sepsis, 232.6 for liver diseases, 212.0 for cancers, 208.8 for pneumonia and 206.9 for respiratory diseases. The standardized death rate for all patients was 456.6 for heart diseases, 414.7 for liver diseases, 393.8 for respiratory diseases, and 383.0 for malignant neoplasms. In conclusion, the patterns of morbidity and mortality of patients with Hansen's disease was different than those of the general population. Additional public health approaches will be needed to improve the health status and quality of life of these patients, and additional studies on related factors will also be in order.