The socioeconomic burden of coronary heart disease in Korea

• Published in: Journal of preventive medicine and public health Vol. 45; no. 5; pp. 291 - 300
• Main Authors: Chang, Hoo-Sun, Kim, Han-Joong, Nam, Chung-Mo, Lim, Seung-Ji, Jang, Young-Hwa, Kim, Sera, Kang, Hye-Young
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) 대한예방의학회 01.09.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Angina Pectoris - economics; Angina Pectoris - epidemiology; Coronary Disease - economics; Coronary Disease - epidemiology; Cost of Illness; Female; Health Care Costs - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Insurance, Health - statistics & numerical data; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction - economics; Myocardial Infarction - epidemiology; Prevalence; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Sex Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Young Adult; 예방의학; Republic of Korea; Myocardial infarction; Cost of illness; Angina; Coronary disease; Insurance claim
• ISSN: 2233-4521; 1975-8375; 2233-4521
• DOI: 10.3961/jpmph.2012.45.5.291

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. 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. Estimated national spending on CHD in 2005 was $2.52 billion. 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, which is about 2 times higher than the cost for angina ($1556). The total insurance-covered medical cost ($1.13 billion) 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.