Socioeconomic Costs of Age-related Macular Degeneration in Korea

PURPOSE: To estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Republic of Korea. METHODS: We estimated the costs of illness to society of AMD patients, including medical, nonmedical, and productivity costs. The medical costs included official and nonofficial medical costs, and the nonmedical costs consisted of transportation, time, and nursing costs. We used Korea National Health Insurance Claims Database, National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort, and Korea Health Panel study data in the analysis. RESULTS: The socioeconomic costs of AMD were estimated to be 694 billion Korean won (KRW) in 2016. This figure was divided into 501 billion KRW (72.1%) for medical costs, 61 billion KRW (8.8%) for nonmedical costs, and 133 billion KRW (19.1%) for productivity costs. The annual per capita socioeconomic cost of AMD was 1.32 million KRW. CONCLUSIONS: We determined the scale and composition of the socioeconomic costs of AMD. Importantly, the productivity costs accounted for approximately 20% of all costs, suggesting that AMD had a significant impact on productivity. Because the disease costs of AMD are expected to increase continuously with the aging population, effective planning at the governmental level for prevention and treatment of AMD should be considered to reduce socioeconomic costs.

Socioeconomic Costs of Glaucoma in Korea

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the socioeconomic costs of glaucoma in Korea. It is to be used as an academic reference regarding policy making for the introduction of glaucoma screening tests in the national health check-ups. METHODS: We estimated the socioeconomic costs of glaucoma from a societal perspective, which included medical, nonmedical, and productivity costs. The medical costs consisted of official and nonofficial medical costs, and the nonmedical costs consisted of transportation, time, and nursing costs. We used the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort 2002–2013 and the Korea Health Panel study. RESULTS: The socioeconomic costs of glaucoma were estimated to be 3,000 billion Korean won (KRW) in 2013. These total costs were divided into 1,539 billion KRW (51.3%) for medical costs, 1,292 billion KRW (43.1%) for nonmedical costs, and 168 billion KRW (5.6%) for productivity costs. CONCLUSIONS: Glaucoma is a large economic burden from a societal perspective. The nonmedical and productivity costs, as well as the medical costs are especially high. Because the disease costs of glaucoma are expected to increase continuously, political support for early detection of glaucoma should be considered.

Economic Burden of the Inadequate Management of Allergic Rhinitis and Urticaria in Asian Countries Based on the GA²LEN Model

PURPOSE: Across Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, (referred to as Asia) approximately 30–53 million individuals of the 151 million employed suffer from allergic rhinitis (AR) and urticaria. It is estimated that approximately 90% of patients with these allergic conditions are insufficiently treated, impacting the socioeconomic burden in terms of absence from work and decreased productivity. This study aims to estimate the socioeconomic burden of allergies in Asia and the cost savings that their adequate management can provide. Due to the limited availability of regional data, this study focused AR and urticaria in selected countries. METHODS: Published literature, information from statistical bureaus, clinician surveys and extrapolation of selected data from the European Union were used to determine the socioeconomic costs of AR and urticaria. RESULTS: Many patients in Asia suffer from perennial allergies and experience symptoms of AR and urticaria for up to 298 days per year. An estimate of the indirect costs of patients insufficiently treated for AR and urticaria amounts to USD 105.4 billion a year, which equates to USD 1,137–2,195 per patient due to absenteeism and presenteeism. Adherence to guideline-approved treatment can lead to estimated savings of up to USD 104 billion. CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggests that within Asia, the socioeconomic impact of AR and urticaria is similar to that seen in the European Union in spite of the lower wages in Asia. This is due to the mainly perennial allergens prevailing in Asia, whereas the sensitization patterns observed in the European Union are dominated by seasonal exposure to pollen. These results underline the need for governmental initiatives to increase public awareness on the prevention and treatment of these and other allergic diseases as well as greater research funding and large-scale studies to reduce their growing socioeconomic burden in coming years.

Socioeconomic Costs of Overweight and Obesity in Korean Adults

This study was conducted to estimate the socioeconomic costs of overweight and obesity in a sample of Korean adults aged 20 yr and older in 2005. The socioeconomic costs of overweight and obesity include direct costs (inpatient care, outpatient care and medication) and indirect costs (loss of productivity due to premature deaths and inpatient care, time costs, traffic costs and nursing fees). Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, ischemic heart disease, stroke, colon cancer and osteoarthritis were selected as obesity-related diseases. The population attributable fraction (PAF) of obesity was calculated from national representative data of Korea such as the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) cohort data and the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) data. Direct costs of overweight and obesity were estimated at approximately U$1,081 million equivalent (men: U$497 million, women: U$584 million) and indirect costs were estimated at approximately U$706 million (men: U$527 million, women: U$178 million). The estimated total socioeconomic costs of overweight and obesity were approximately U$1,787 million (men: U$1,081 million, women: U$706 million). These total costs represented about 0.22% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 3.7% of the national health care expenditures in 2005. We found the socioeconomic costs of overweight and obesity in Korean adults aged 20 yr and older are substantial. In order to control the socioeconomic burden attributable to overweight and obesity, effective national strategies for prevention and management of obesity should be established and implemented.

Incidence and Estimation of Socioeconomic Costs of Falls in the Rural Elderly Population

BACKGROUND: This study was done to delineate the incidence and socioeconomic cost of fall-related injuries in the rural elderly population. METHODS: From February 1, 2010 to March 31, 2010, a questionnaire-based interview survey was conducted on 2,295 persons 65 years or older living in rural communities (1 Myoen and 1 Eup of Gyoengsangnam-do). The socioeconomic cost due to falls in the elderly in 2009 was estimated using direct and indirect costs. The direct costs included medical costs covered by health insurance and those not covered by insurance. The indirect costs included nursing care, diapers, transportation, health function foods, medical assistance device, and productivity loss. RESULTS: Of the 2,295 subjects, 735 (32.0%) had suffered from fall-related injuries during the previous year. The direct costs of these injuries calculated to be 596,466,000 Won (56.6%). The indirect costs was 458,081,000 Won (43.4%). Of the indirect cost, loss of productivity was 274,993,000 Won, health function foods was 65,531,100 Won, nursing care was 48,755,000 Won, and transportation was 43,122,000 Won. The total socioeconomic costs (direct costs+indirect costs) of the study subjects was 1,054,547,000 Won. The socioeconomic costs per person was 459,500 Won for the total number of study subjects and 1,435,000 Won for the 735 subjects. CONCLUSION: When the above calculated socioeconomic cost for the 2,295 subjects is applied to the 1,067,262 Korean rural elderly population in 2009, the socioeconomic costs owing to fall-related injuries can be estimated to as much as 343,614,988,000 Won. In the future, the socioeconomic costs due to injuries such as falls is expected to increase as the elderly population increases. Therefore, injury prevention programs and studies for reducing the socioeconomic costs in the elderly community are needed.

Socioeconomic Costs of Obesity for Korean Adults / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the socioeconomic costs of obesity in Korea, 1998. METHODS: The 1998 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1998 NHNES) data was used and 10,880 persons who had taken health examinations were selected for study. Essential hypertension, NIDDM (non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus), dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis, coronary heart disease, stroke were included as obesity related disease. The data of direct costs of obesity was obtained from the National Federation of Medical Insurance. The category of indirect costs was the loss of productivity caused by premature death and admission, time costs, traffic costs, nursing fees due to obesity. Multiple logistic regression model was developed to estimate prevalence odds ratio by obesity class adjusted demographic and socio-ecnomic factors and calculate PAF (Population Attributable Fraction) of obesity on obesity related disease. And we finally calculated the socioeconomic costs of obesity in relation to BMI with PAF. RESULTS: The direct costs of obesity were 2,126 billion~965 billion Won in considering out of pocket payment to uninsured services, and the indirect costs of obesity were 2,099 billion~1,086 billion Won. Consequently, in considering out of pocket payment to uninsured services, the socioeconomic costs of obesity were 4,225 billion~2,050 billion Won, which corresponded to about 0.094% ~0.046% of GDP and 1.88%~0.91 of total health care costs in Korea. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity represents a major health problem with significant economic implications for the society. This results are conservative estimates as far as all obesity related disease and all health care and indirect costs were not included due to missing information. Further studies are needed to caculate socioeconomic costs of obesity more exactly.