• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.228-236
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• 2022

The aim of this study was updating suicide-related indicators, including the number of suicidal deaths, suicide rate, and the prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. We observed trends in suicide-related indicators based on up-to-date information. This study used five data sources to evaluate the trends of suicide-related indicators: Statistics Korea (1983-2020), Korean Wealth Panel Study (KOWEPS, 2012-2020), and Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, 2010-2013, 2016-2018), Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES, 2007-2013, 2015-2020), and Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS, 2008-2009, 2013, 2017). The suicide rate per 100,000 population decrease from 26.9 in 2019 to 25.7 in 2020. Based on recently available data, the rates of suicidal ideation were 1.48% (KOWEPS, 2020), 2.61% (KHP, 2018), 4.62% (KNHANES, 2019), and 6.96% (KCHS, 2017). Those of suicide attempt as were 0.07% (KOWEPS, 2020), 0.44% (KNHANES, 2020), and 0.32% (KCHS, 2017). Annual percentage change (APC) of suicide rate was -1.87% (Statistics Korea, 2011-2020). APC of suicidal ideation was -10.7% (KOWEPS, 2012-2020), -11.5% (KHP, 2010-2013, 2016-2018), -14.7% (KNHANES, 2007-2013, 2015, 2017, 2019), and -2.5% (KCHS, 2008-2009, 2013, 2017). APC of suicide attempt was -11.3% (KOWEPS, 2012-2019), -5.2% (KNHANES, 2007-2013, 2015-2020), and -4.4% (KCHS, 2008-2009, 2013, 2017). Although the suicide rate in Korea has decreased compared to 10 years ago, it is still at a high level. Thus, continuous observation and appropriate suicide prevention policies are needed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.225-231
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• 2021

Unmet healthcare is an important indicator to measure accessibility of healthcare services. To examine the latest status of unmet healthcare needs in South Korea, the four different data which is composed of nationally representative sample of South Korean population were used; the Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNAHANES, 2007-2019), the Community Health Survey (CHS, 2008-2019), the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, 2011-2017), and the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS, 2006-2019). The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs were 5.8% (KNHANES), 5.3% (CHS), and 11.6% (KHP). Annual percentage change (APC) which identifies trend for the follow-up period was -9.5%, -8.0%, and -6.5%, respectively. The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs due to cost were 1.1% (KNAHANES), 0.7% (CHS), 2.4% (KHP), and 0.4% (KOWEPS). The APC was -10.5%, -14.2%, -12.2%, and -19.6%, respectively. Compared to last year, the rate of unmet healthcare needs has declined in general. However, the low-income and the elderly population were reporting the highest rate of unmet health care needs, and the disparity between lowest and highest groups were remained. These results suggest that adequate benefit coverage is needed for low-income and elderly population.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to estimate the mediating effect of subjective unmet healthcare needs on poor health. The mediating effect of unmet needs on health outcomes was estimated. Methods: Cross-sectional research method was used to analyze Korea Health Panel data from 2011 to 2015, investigating the mediating effect for each annual dataset and lagged dependent variables. Results: The magnitude of the effect of low income on poor health and the mediating effect of unmet needs were estimated using age, sex, education level, employment status, healthcare insurance status, disability, and chronic disease as control variables and self-rated health as the dependent variable. The mediating effect of unmet needs due to financial reasons was between 14.7% to 32.9% of the total marginal effect, and 7.2% to 18.7% in lagged model. Conclusions: The fixed-effect logit model demonstrated that the existence of unmet needs raised the likelihood of poor self-rated health. However, only a small proportion of the effects of low income on health was mediated by unmet needs, and the results varied annually. Further studies are necessary to search for ways to explain the varying results in the Korea Health Panel data, as well as to consider a time series analysis of the mediating effect. The results of this study present the clear implication that even though it is crucial to address the unmet needs, but it is not enough to tackle the income related health inequalities.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.44-55
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• 2019

Purpose: To investigate whether changes in Medical Aid (MA) status are associated with unmet need and catastrophic health expenditure (CHE). Methods: Data from the 2010 to 2014 Korea Health Panel (KHP) were used. The impact of changes in annual MA status ('MA to MA,' 'MA to MA Exit,' 'MA Exit to MA,' and 'MA Exit to MA Exit') on unmet need (all-cause and financial) and CHE (10% and 40% of household capacity to pay) were examined using the generalized estimating equation (GEE) model. Analysis was conducted separately for MA type I and II individuals. Results: In 1,164 Medical Aid type I individuals, compared to the 'MA to MA' group, the 'MA to MA Exit' group had increased likelihoods of all-cause and financial unmet need. This group also showed higher likelihoods of CHE at the 10% standard. The 'MA Exit to MA Exit' group showed increased likelihoods at the 10% and 40% CHE standards. In 852 type II recipients, the 'MA to MA Exit' group had higher likelihoods of CHE at the 10% standard. Conclusions: Type 1 MA exit beneficiaries had higher likelihoods of all-cause and financial unmet need, along CHE at the 10% standard. Type I 'MA Exit to MA Exit' beneficiaries also showed higher likelihoods of CHE at the 10% and 40% standards. In type II recipients, MA exit beneficiaries had higher likelihoods of CHE at the 10% standard. The results infer the importance of monitoring MA exit beneficiaries as they may be vulnerable to unmet need and CHE.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.203-210
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• 2019

This study analyzed the size and influence factors of annual average health expenditure according to job type. Using data from the Korea Health Panel (2012), the final analysis was conducted on adults aged 20 years or older, excluding the missing data. Data analysis was done by logistic regression analysis to analyze the factors affecting medical expenditure. As a result of the study, Model 1 showed higher expenditure on medical expenses by skilled workers in agriculture and forestry fishery than those in simple labor. Model 2 was analyzed as having a positive effect on the increase of medical expenditure by the simple worker in the sales of the occupation, statistically significant by sex, marriage, income level and chronic disease. Therefore, it would be necessary to establish social security and health care & welfare policies, in order to grasp the disease with a high frequency rate according to occupation status and activate the physical examination and preventive actions.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.194-292
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• 2023

Background: This study aimed to update suicide-related indicators, including the number of suicidal deaths, suicide rate, and the prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. We observed trends in suicide-related indicators based on up-to-date information. Methods: This study used five data sources to evaluate the trends of suicide-related indicators: Statistics Korea (1983-2021), Korean Wealth Panel Study (KOWEPS, 2012-2021), and Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, 2010-2013, 2016-2019), Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES, 2007-2013, 2015-2021), Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS, 2008-2009, 2013, 2017, 2021). Results: The suicide rate per 100,000 population increased from 25.7 in 2020 to 26.0 in 2021. The rates of suicidal ideation from recently available data were 4.28% (KNHANES, 2021), 6.52% (KCHS, 2021), 1.61% (KOWEPS) and 7.10% (KHP, 2019). The suicidal attempts rates were 0.46% (KNHANES, 2021) and 0.34% (KCHS, 2021). The annual percentage change (APC) of suicide rate showed that suicide rates increased in the younger population (APC=9.02% in <19 years, APC=5.13 in 20-39 years) although the rates decreased in the older population (APC=-3.37 in 60-79 years, APC=-2.25 in >80 years). Conclusion: The suicide rate and related indicators increased in 2021 compared to 2020. Thus, continuous observation and appropriate suicide prevention policies as well as studies about the factors that affected the increase in 2021 are needed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.11-24
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• 2024

Purpose : This study aims to identify the factors influencing health-related quality of life through machine learning of the general characteristics of patients with hypertension and to provide a basis for related research on patients, such as intervention strategies and management guidelines in the field of physical therapy for health promotion. Methods : Annual data from the second Korean Health Panel (Version 2.0) from 2019 to 2020, conducted jointly by the Korea Health and Social Research Institute and the National Health Insurance Service, were analyzed (Korea Health Panel, 2024). The data used in this study was collected from January to July 2020, and the data was collected using computer-assisted face-to-face interviews. Of the 13,530 household members surveyed, 1,368 were selected as the final study participants after removing missing values from 3,448 individuals diagnosed with hypertension by a doctor. Results : The results showed that walking (P2) was the most significant factor affecting health-related quality of life in random forest, followed by perceived stress (HS1), body mass index (BMIc), total household income (TOTc), subjective health status (SRHc), marital status (Marr), and education level (Edu). Conclusion :To prevent and manage chronic diseases such as hypertension, as well as to provide customized interventions for patients in advanced stages of the disease, research should be conducted in the field of physical therapy to identify influencing factors using machine learning. Based on the findings of this study, we believe that there is a need for additional content that can be utilized in the field of physical therapy to improve the health-related quality of life of patients with hypertension, such as diagnostic assessment and intervention management guidelines for hypertension, and education on perceived stress and subjective health status.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2024

Background: In recent years, studies have shown conflicting results regarding the benefits of dietary supplements in reducing healthcare expenditures. This study aimed to address this inconsistency by examining the association between supplement consumption and health expenditures using nationally representative data from the Korea Health Panel Survey (2019-2020). Methods: A 1:1 matched case-control dataset was established using propensity score matching technique based on supplement consumption. Then, total annual healthcare expenditures were compared between the two groups. In addition, a multivariate regression analysis (Proc Surveyreg) was performed to determine the association between the supplement consumption and medical costs. Results: The supplement user group spent about 1.72 million Korean won, while the non-user group spent about 1.43 million Korean won on medical services (p=0.0186). The results of multivariate regression showed that the costs were approximately 26.15% higher in the user group than in the non-user group (p=0.0004). Conclusion: Contrary to the previous studies that have shown the benefits of supplement use in reducing healthcare costs, this study showed that those who consistently consumed supplements spent more on medical services. This can be interpreted in the same context as previous studies suggesting that dietary supplement intake is a healthy behavior for managing one's health. However, we caution against drawing firm conclusions due to data limitations. Further analysis using patient-level epidemiologic data is needed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.363-369
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• 2023

The term "catastrophic health expenditure" means assessing the extent to which medical costs cause financial hardship for households. The aim of this research is to analyze the percentage of households that faced severe financial strain due to medical expenses from 2006 to 2021. This was achieved by utilizing data obtained from the National Survey of Tax and Benefit (NaSTaB), Korea Health Panel (KHP), and Households Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES). A trend analysis was conducted to examine the percentage of households that experienced catastrophic healthcare expenses. The households that experienced the catastrophic health expenditure was 2.49% in 2021 using the NaSTaB data. The trend analysis yielded a statistically significant result, indicating a decreasing trend (annual percent change [APC], -4.79; p<0.0001) in the proportion of households facing catastrophic health expenditures. Also, the results of the 2019 KHP and the 2021 HIES showed 1.09% and 2.44% for the households that experienced catastrophic health expenditure. The trend was increased according to the KHP (APC, 0.55; p=0.0004) and the HIES (APC, 7.04; p<0.0001). As a result, this study proposes that sustained attention and further interventions are necessary to ease the economic pressure caused by catastrophic health expenses, particularly for low-income households.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.152-158
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• 2019

This study examined the socio-economic and clinical characteristics associated with the use of ambulance services among pregnant, childbearing, and postpartum women based on data from the 2008-2016 Korea Health Panel. The analysis revealed that among the pregnant, childbearing, and postpartum women, the proportion using all ambulance services was 18.9% whereas 12.0% used private and 119 ambulances. Moreover, among those using ambulance services, delivery was the most common reason (38.7%) followed by complications of labor and delivery (20.0%) and pregnancy with abortive outcome (17.3%). There were statistically significant differences between the users and non-users of ambulance services in terms of the average annual household income, emergency arrival time, and delayed arrival at the emergency room. As childbirth becomes more complicated due to low fertility and elderly mothers, the expansion and improvement of ambulance services as a social safety net for pregnant, childbearing, and postpartum women will become increasingly important.