The Socioeconomic Burden of Coronary Heart Disease in Korea / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to estimate the annual socioeconomic burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Korea in 2005, using the National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data. METHODS: A prevalence-based, top-down, cost-of-treatment method was used to assess the direct and indirect costs of CHD (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes of I20-I25), angina pectoris (I20), and myocardial infarction (MI, I21-I23) from a societal perspective. RESULTS: Estimated national spending on CHD in 2005 was 2.52 billion dollar . The majority of the spending was attributable to medical costs (53.3%), followed by productivity loss due to morbidity and premature death (33.6%), transportation (8.1%), and informal caregiver costs (4.9%). While medical cost was the predominant cost attribute in treating angina (74.3% of the total cost), premature death was the largest cost attribute for patients with MI (66.9%). Annual per-capita cost of treating MI, excluding premature death cost, was 3183 dollar, which is about 2 times higher than the cost for angina (1556 dollar). CONCLUSIONS: The total insurance-covered medical cost (1.13 billion dollar) of CHD accounted for approximately 6.02% of the total annual NHI expenditure. These findings suggest that the current burden of CHD on society is tremendous and that more effective prevention strategies are required in Korea.

Socioeconomic Costs of Stroke in Korea: Estimated from the Korea National Health Insurance Claims Database / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of stroke in Korea in 2005 from a societal perspective. METHODS: We identified those 20 years or older who had at least one national health insurance (NHI) claims record with a primary or a secondary diagnosis of stroke (ICD-10 codes: I60-I69, G45) in 2005. Direct medical costs of the stroke were measured from the NHI claims records. Direct non-medical costs were estimated as transportation costs incurred when visiting the hospitals. Indirect costs were defined as patients' and caregivers' productivity loss associated with office visits or hospitalization. Also, the costs of productivity loss due to premature death from stroke were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 882,143 stroke patients were identified with prevalence for treatment of stroke at 2.44%. The total cost for the treatment of stroke in the nation was estimated to be 3,737 billion Korean won (KRW) which included direct costs at 1,130 billion KRW and indirect costs at 2,606 billion KRW. The per-capita cost of stroke was 3 million KRW for men and 2 million KRW for women. The total national spending for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke was 1,323 billion KRW and 1,553 billion KRW, respectively, which together consisted of 77.0% of the total cost for stroke. Costs per patient for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke were estimated at 6 million KRW and 2 million KRW, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Stroke is a leading public health problem in Korea in terms of the economic burden. The indirect costs were identified as the largest component of the overall cost.