• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.476-485
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• 2017

This study was analyzed obesity status by divided into six classification based on the body mass index(BMI) established by World Health Organization-Western Pacific Regional Office(WHO-WPRO) through National Health Insurance Service(NHIS). In the middle of process, problems of outlier solved by presenting the median repeated interpolation. Unlike linear and Lagrange interpolation, median repeated interpolation may be useful in multiple outlier contained dataset. As a result, we found that extreme low and obesity weight gradually increased and the frequency of normal body weight gradually decreased. Especially, the increase of obesity in men and women of lower age group is increasing. Overall, this study suggests that national measures need to be taken before health problems arising from obesity can spread to other social problems.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.389-399
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• 2022

Background: This study aimed to analyze changes in medical utilization and cost before and after long-term care (LTC) implementation. Methods: We used the National Health Information Database from National Health Insurance Service. The participants were selected who had a new LTC grade (grade 1-5) for 2015. Medical utilization was analyzed before and after LTC implementation. Segmented regression analysis of interrupted time series was conducted to evaluate the overall effect of the LTC implementation on medical costs. Results: The total number of participants was 41,726. A major reason for hospitalization in grade 1 was cerebrovascular diseases, and dementia was the top priority in grade 5. The proportion of hospitalization in grade 1 increased sharply before LTC implementation and then decreased. In grade 5, it increased before LTC implementation, but there was no significant difference after LTC implementation. As for medical cost, in grades 1 to 4, the total cost increased sharply before the LTC implementation, but thereafter, changes in level and trend tended to decrease statistically, and for grade 5, immediately after LTC implementation, the level change was decreasing, but thereafter, the trend change was increasing. Conclusion: Long-term care grades showed different medical utilization and cost changes. Long-term care beneficiaries would improve their quality of life by adequately resolving their medical needs by their grades.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.219-223
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• 2018

Objective : To investigate nationwide statistics on flow-diverting stent usage for cerebral aneurysm treatment and related mortality data. Methods : We requested data extraction from the National Health Insurance Service claims database using electronic data interchange codes (J3207064, J3207073). Patient and hospital information as well as death statistics were collected from the database. Results : A total of 169 procedures were performed using flow-diverting stents for cerebral aneurysm treatment from November 2014 to December 2016 in Korea. The majority of primary diagnosis was unruptured intracranial aneurysm. During the study period, nine subjects died, including one patient initially diagnosed with subarachnoid hemorrhage. The crude mortality rate was 5.3%. Five patients died within one month after the procedure; therefore, the estimated periprocedural mortality rate was $3.0{\pm}1.3%$. The mortality rate as of the last day of 2016 was $6.3{\pm}2.1%$. Conclusion : In a 171 person-year follow-up in a Korean series, nine deaths occurred after flow-diverting stent treatment. The crude mortality rate in Korea (5.3%) was higher than that reported in a previous meta-analysis (3.8%).

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.21-37
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• 2021

Objectives : Allergic rhinitis(AR) is a common chronic disease that accounts for 10-40% of the world's population. This study aims to analyze the status of claims, prevalence, and medical utilization of allergic rhinitis patients using representative patients sample data. Methods : This study used the National Patients Sample(HIRA-NPS) of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service for 7 years(2010-2016). And we defined AR patients as all statements including J30 or a subcategory of J30 as the main disease, using the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases(KCD-7). The trend of AR patients by year was divided into Western medicine(WM) and Korean medicine(KM), and analyzed by subgroup analysis such as inpatient/outpatient, gender, age, insurance type, and care institution. Results : Patients with AR were mainly claimed for first sub diagnosis in WM and major diagnosis in KM, and the number of claims increased about 1.3 times and 1.4 times compared to 2010 in WM and KM, respectively. In addition, the total annual medical expenses in 2016 increased 1.3 times and 1.7 times compared to 2010, respectively. Conclusions : Both WM and KM are showing a steadily increasing trend in medical use due to allergic rhinitis. Further research is needed by considering genetic and environmental factors and individual characteristics, and linking with additional data.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2023

Objective: Adherence is an important component in the treatment of various diseases, and poor adherence to antidepressants in patients with major depressive disorder is common. Non-adherence can be more prevalent in elderly patients with multiple morbidity and polypharmacy, resulting in negative treatment outcomes. The purpose of this study was to analyze adherence to antidepressants in Korean elderly patients with major depressive disorder. Method: A retrospective study was conducted using the Korean National Health Insurance claims database, and the subjects of this study were patients aged 65 or older who received at least one prescription of antidepressant monotherapy for the treatment of major depressive disorder between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020. Adherence was measured using the proportion of days covered at 6 months after the initial antidepressant prescription date. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with adherence. Results: A total of 416,766 patients were finally included in the study. Over half of patients were non-adherent (52.67%) to antidepressants. According to the multivariate logistic regression analysis, national health insurance or medical aid, taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and having comorbidities were significantly associated with greater rates of adherence in the study subjects. The highest adherence rate was observed in patients taking vortioxetine. Conclusion: There was a considerable rate of non-adherence in Korean elderly patients with major depressive disorder. Health care professionals should try to improve adherence in elderly patients with major depressive disorder.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

Lung cancer is a fatal disease, highlighting the importance of research on related topics, including surgery for lung cancer. However, systematic research analyzing surgery on a national scale is limited. This study aimed to investigate the research on lung cancer using nationwide data in South Korea and to analyze trends in lung cancer surgery, including its clinical implications. Published articles and data from the Korean National Health Insurance database were used. Although the incidence and mortality of lung cancer have been improving, it is predicted to be the most common and fatal type of cancer in South Korea in 2021. The number of surgical procedures for lung cancer is increasing, especially among women, those ≥76 years of age, residents of non-metropolitan cities, and middle-income patients. Lobectomy and sublobectomy, including segmentectomy, are increasingly common. However, the proportion of pneumonectomy relative to other procedures is not increasing. Surgery has shown a reasonable survival rate, especially after lobectomy, but survival remains poor in patients ≥76 years of age who undergo pneumonectomy. The frequency of lung cancer surgery is increasing concomitantly with various socioeconomic changes. Lobectomy has become increasingly common, and the clinical results of surgery are satisfactory. Further research on the changing composition of surgical candidates is required.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.4 s.44
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• pp.614-627
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• 1993

It is well known that a physician's personal characteristic affects his practice pattern. Furthermore, a physician's specialty has powerful influences on his practice pattern. However, despite the fact that specialization has received the most attention for its influence on physician's service behavior, few studies have been conducted on the variations of contents and volume of physician's services. This study has intended to identify factors influencing the practice variations according to various physician characteristics. There are some other evidences that medical care providers are different in using of health services and resources in Korea. Four physician characteristics were selected for the analysis, two demographical factors, age and sex, and two practice factors, place of practice and medical specialty. Also, three indicators of service amount (total amount of insurance claim bill, number of visits per case, number of prescriptions per case) were selected. From the pool of insurance claims for ambulatory care received by the Korean National Federation of Medical Insurance(NFMI), 84,898 cases were randomly sampled. In the meantime using physician database of NFMI, 613 general practitioners (GP), 107 regular family physicians (FP), 483 'grandfather' family physicians(GFP), and 1,157 specialist practitioners(SP) were randomly sampled. Their different practice contents were compared concerning the specialty, age groups, sex, and practice sites (urban-rural) Specialist physicians tend to provide more costly care than do generalists. General practitioners and family physicians usually make fewer following visits and prescriptions. Age is also the important factor in determining the amount of services, which is highest at the physician's age group of 40's. Female doctors and urban practitioners use much more resources than their counterparts respectively. Research findings suggest that physician's characteristics particularly the specialty can affect practice patterns and resource utilizations. Other characteristics such as age and sex are not controllable but physician's specialty is relatively easily controllable during the entire phases of policy implementation. This is all the more true in the individual's initial decision of his specialty. Specialization therefore should receive policymaker's attention for its potential influence on medical care utilization and health care expenditure.

• Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.60-67
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• 2021

Objectives: The optimal duration of maintenance treatment for patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) remains unclear. We examined the first antipsychotic treatment duration and its association with re-initiation of treatment using a nationwide claim database. Methods: Data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database in South Korea for 2007-2016 were used. Linear regression analysis and Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the associations between the duration of the first antipsychotic treatment, time to re-initiation of treatment, and occurrence of treatment re-initiation. Results: Of 30,143 patients with FES, 80.4% (n=24,231) received <2 years of the first antipsychotic treatment. In patients who discontinued treatment (n=23,030), the rate of treatment re-initiation was 74.2% (n=17,086). As the duration of the first antipsychotic treatment increased, the time to re-initiation of treatment decreased (β=-0.146, p<0.001); however, the rate of treatment reinitiation was relatively constant (hazard ratio=1.001, p<0.001). Conclusion: Long-term antipsychotic treatment was not significantly associated with the rate of treatment re-initiation but showed a negative association with the time to re-initiation of treatment. Further research is needed to better understand the optimal treatment duration for FES.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.475-480
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• 2023

Objectives: This study examined differences in health care spending and characteristics among older adults in Korea by high-cost status (persistently, transiently, and never high-cost). Methods: We identified 1 364 119 older adults using data from the Korean National Insurance Claims Database for 2017-2019. Outcomes included average annual total health care spending and high-cost status for 2017-2019. Linear regression was used to estimate differences in the outcomes while adjusting for individual-level characteristics. Results: Persistently and transiently high-cost older adults had higher health care spending than never high-cost older adults, but the difference in health care spending was greater among persistently high-cost older adults than among transiently high-cost older adults (US$20 437 vs. 5486). Despite demographic and socioeconomic differences between transiently high-cost and never high-cost older adults, the presence of comorbid conditions remained the most significant factor. However, there were no or small differences in the prevalence of comorbid conditions between persistently high-cost and transiently high-cost older adults. Rather, notable differences were observed in socioeconomic status, including disability and receipt of Medical Aid. Conclusions: Medical risk factors contribute to high health care spending to some extent, but social risk factors may be a source of persistent high-cost status among older adults in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.390-395
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• 2015

There have been a few studies reporting the epidemiology of moyamoya disease in Korea. Previous studies revealed relatively high prevalence and incidence of moyamoya disease in Korea and Japan. This study was designed to provide the latest epidemiologic information of moyamoya disease in Korea. We analyzed a database comprising of 50 million people covered in Korea by the National Health Insurance Service to calculate the prevalence. The incidence was estimated by eliminating the duplicated records of previous 3 years. We summarized the prevalence and incidence according to age, sex, and local distribution. In addition, the chronological changes were demonstrated with direct standardization using the 2010 population structure information. The standardized prevalence was 6.5 per 100000 persons in 2005, which was increased to 18.1 in 2013. In the same period, standardized incidence was increased from 2.7 to 4.3 per 100000 persons. The prevalence for men was 4.9 and 8.3 for women in 2005. In 2013, the prevalence had increased for men and women to 13.8 and 25.3, respectively. The incidence for men and women was 2.2 and 3.2, respectively, in 2005. It had increased to 3.5 and 5.7, respectively. The mean age of patients was 33.5 in 2005 and increased to 42.5 in 2013. The peak prevalent age group had shifted slightly to the older age groups, with chronologically consistent female predominance. The prevalence was highest in Jeollabuk province and lowest in Ulsan city.