J Korean Med Sci.  2015 Feb;30(2):180-185. 10.3346/jkms.2015.30.2.180.

Rapid Increase of Health Care Utilization and Cost due to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Korean Men: Retrospective Population-based Analysis Using the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service Data

• Son H
• Park J
• Song SH
• Kang JY
• Hong SK
• Lee HM
• Kim SH
• Park BJ
• Lee HL
• Lee KS

• KMID: 2129649
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2015.30.2.180

Abstract

Using the Korean public health insurance database, we analyzed patients diagnosed as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) from 2004 to 2008. Age and year-specific amount and seasonal variation of hospital visits (HV), duration of treatment (DT), the total and per capita amount of insurance payment (TAIP, PCIP) were evaluated. A total of 12,088,995 HV were studied. Total HV increased 1.7 times and DT almost doubled in 2008 compared to those in 2004. HV, DT, and TAIP showed linearly increasing patterns year by year. In a time series analysis, HV increased in winter and demonstrated seasonality in a 12-month cycle. In a Poisson regression analysis, the annual variations of HV, DT, TAIP, and PCIP were different by age groups. In patients older than 40 yr, HV significantly increased 1.10-1.16 times compared to that of the previous year. DT markedly increased in their 60s and 80s patients. The rate of increase in PCIP was steeper in patients 50 yr and older than in the others.Health care utilization due to BPH was rapidly increasing in Korea and it was remarkable in the elderly population. Seasonal variation of HV demonstrated that health care utilization increased in winter.

Keyword

Prostatic Hyperplasia; Epidemiology; Insurance Claim Review

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cost of Illness
Health Care Costs
Humans
Insurance, Health/*economics/statistics & numerical data
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*statistics & numerical data
Prostatic Hyperplasia/*economics/*epidemiology/therapy
Republic of Korea/epidemiology
Retrospective Studies
Seasons
Young Adult

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 The linearly increasing pattern of BPH health utilizationfrom year to year. (A) Hospital visits (days) per month, (B) Duration of treatment (days) per month, and (C) Total amount of insurance payment (Korean won [KRW]) per month.

• 

  Fig. 2 The seasonality of BPH health utilization in the time series analysis. Quarterly amount of: (A) Hospital visits per month. (B) Duration of treatment per month. (C) Total amount of insurance payment per month show seasonality. The unit of Y axis indicates percent ratio of quarter amount of hospital visits, duration of treatment and total amount of insurance payment for each year, respectively.

• 

  Fig. 3 The annual variation of BPH health utilization across age groups. (A) Hospital visits (days) per year by age groups. (B) Duration of treatment (days) per year by age groups. (C) Per capita amount of insurance payment (Korean won) per year by age group.

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