Estimated number of self-reported intervertebral disc disorders in Korean adults based on the data from the third Korea national health and nutrition examination survey

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:This study estimated the number of self-reported intervertebral disc disorders in Korean adults from a representative sample. METHODS:We analyzed the data from the third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2005 using surveyfreq procedure of the SAS statistical package and estimated the number of Korean adults who reported that they experienced intervertebral disc disorders during their lifetime (lifetime patients) and those who reported that they experienced intervertebral disc disorders lasting for three or more months during the past year or were suffering from intervertebral disc disorders at the time of survey (one-year patients). RESULTS:It was estimated that there were 2,653,230 (proportion, 7.4%; 95% CI, 2,490,624-2,815,835) self-reported lifetime patients and 2,250,850 (6.3%; 2,102,714-2,398,986) self-reported one-year patients among 35,719,293 Korean adults aged 20?89 years in 2005. CONCLUSIONS:Further efforts to investigate exact number of Korean adults with intervertebral disc disorders and improve treatment outcomes of intervertebral disc disorders are needed.