• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.217-227
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• 2017

In terms of years of life lost to premature mortality, cancer imposes the highest burden in Korea. In order to reduce the burden of cancer, the Korean government has implemented cancer control programs aiming to reduce cancer incidence, to increase survival rates, and to decrease cancer mortality. However, these programs may paradoxically increase the cost burden. For examples, a cancer screening program for early detection could bring about over-diagnosis and over-treatment, and supplying medical services in a paternalistic manner could lead to defensive medicine or futile care. As a practical measure to reduce the cost burden of cancer, appropriate cancer care should be established. Ensuring appropriateness requires patient-doctor communication to ensure that utility values are shared and that autonomous decisions are made regarding medical services. Thus, strategies for reducing the cost burden of cancer through ensuring appropriate patient-centered care include introducing value-based medicine, conducting cost-utility studies, and developing patient decision aids.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Floral Art and Design
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• no.43
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• pp.57-79
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of emotion and EEG of people with mental illness by vocational rehabilitation program based on horticultural therapy. The subjects of the study were three people with mental illness who were training in a vocational rehabilitation team at a health center located in G city, Gyeongsangbuk-do. The result of this study, positive affect increased and negative affect decreased. The result of EEG inspection was increased 17.27% on pre test to 21.39% on post test for Theta wave and 39.66% on pre test to 49.02% on post test for Alpha wave in case of subject A. Also Beta wave was decreased 27.53% on pre test to 17.54% on post test. Subject B increased Alpha wave 29.70% on pre to 31.82% on post. Subject C increased Alpha wave 26.30% on pre to 49.42% on post. Beta wave decreased 29.85% on pre to 16.13% on post. Theta wave, when creatively idea or thought occurs, alpha wave when safety and focusing was increased and beta wave when stress, tension and anxiety was decreased. As a result of profits analysis, subject A spent cost a total of 101,700 won for material and achieve profits of 203,400 won by setting a sales price. Therefore, gain the 101,700 won of net revenue. Subject B spent cost a total of 81,000 won for material and achieve profits of 162,000 won by setting a sales price. Therefore, gain the 81,000 won of net revenue. Subject C spent cost a total of 56,200 won for material and achieve profits of 112,400 won by setting a sales price. Therefore, gain the 56,200 won of net revenue.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2002

Purpose : With the elongation of the average life span, the main causes of death are chronicle illness including cancers resulting in a large amount of medical resources. And there are still many patients to whom a sufficient medical care is not given. All these bring on the uneven distribution of medical resources together with the increase of medical cost. Hence, an efficient system should be set up to solve these problems. Methods : The hospice draws a great attention as a resolution of high medical cost and uneven medical resource distribution, and has been proved to be an alternative to the existing medical system. So, the characteristics of the hospice has been reviewed, particularly with respect to its scopes and related resources. And by tracking the actual cases, the necessary services and supports are investigated. Results : The intrinsic characteristics of hospice is that it executes not only the medical exercise but also all the subjects related with patients and their families. And the hospice is performed not only by the medical experts but also by all the disciplines including social and spiritual affairs. This indicates that the hospice requires the integrated system comprised of medical, social and other welfare entities. Conclusion : To establish the actual hospice, an efficient and systematic integration of all the existing medical and other welfare resources in the local society is necessary. The most practical way is the networking of resources, which practices the hospice more efficiently without additional investment.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.115-125
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• 2011

Objectives : The aim of this study is to investigate the relevant factors which determine the use of oriental healthcare services among subjects with chronic illnesses. Method : This study utilized the data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2005. Out of all the participants of the survey, 11,665 individuals who are older than 19 years old and have one or more chronic diseases were included in this study. Results : The factors that affect utilization of oriental healthcare services were significantly associated with gender, educational level, job, personal income, the number of chronic illnesses, experiences of nontreatment or delayed treatment and admission experiences for the last one year(p<.001). Although some of these factors need further studies, the determining factors for the use of oriental healthcare services are the presence of chronic illness and the number of chronic disease. That is, the chronically ill are more likely to seek oriental healthcare services. And the more chronic diseases the clients have the higher probability of seeking oriental healthcare services was found. Conclusions : The results suggest that the national integrated care services should be established for diverse development of policy regarding the quality of care of chronic illness and cost-effectiveness.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.782-793
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• 2022

The rise in chronic disease not only has a negative effect on people's lives, but it also increases the cost of medical care owing to the increased usage of medical care as health and medical technology improves, life expectancy rises, and rapid population ageing. In such context, this study examined the difference in the disease cost of hypertension according to demographic information and the effect of the initial diagnosis age and treatment period on the cost. This study used the Korean Health Panel Survey from 2010 to 2017, and selected subjects based on health insurance beneficiaries between the ages of 30 and under 80. With the selected data, the direct and indirect costs of disease loss were calculated according to the cost of illness approach, and we constructed a disease-loss ratio cohort considering the age of diagnosis and time of treatment for hypertension. From the results of the study, the annual cost of disease loss for hypertensive patients differed by gender by 110,107 won, and it was found that the cost increased by 1.8 times as the treatment time increased. In addition, when comparing disease loss ratios between the same age groups, it was found that the disease loss ratios between those in their 60s and 70s were affected by treatment time. This study confirmed that hypertension significantly affects the cost of the disease, and not only requires early diagnosis and management, but also preventive efforts to lower the incidence of hypertensive disease must be strengthened.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2024

In previous Cost-of-Illness (COI) studies, the economic impact of lost leisure time of patients has been mostly underexplored. Furthermore, few studies have focused on chronic or severe diseases, thereby inadequately addressing the segment of self-care patients who do not fall into the categories of inpatients or outpatients. In the present study, we used a comprehensive approach to calculate the annual cost of leisure loss, incorporating factors such as employment status, self-care options, and total period of leisure activity disruption. This required analyzing data from various sources, including health and labor statistics, and applying methods to accurately assess the leisure time lost due to food poisoning. The findings showed that the annual cost of leisure loss for South Korean patients with food poisoning is significant, amounting to approximately 784.5 billion KRW (702.8 million USD, USD/KRW : 1128.34). This study revealed that overlooking self-care patients and not accounting for the affected time in addition to treatment time and employment status significantly underestimated these costs. This study highlights the importance of considering a wider range of factors, including self-care, employment status, as well as the entire affected period, in assessing the societal impact of diseases such as food poisoning. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and healthcare professionals to understand the broader economic implications of illness and allocate healthcare resources more effectively.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.48
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• pp.150-178
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• 2002

The elderly have higher potential for contracting chronic diseases and suffering from development of a complication. Also, the extended old age period leads the elderly to demand more medical services. All those facts indicate that the elderly need more medical services than any other age groups. Consequently, medical care for the elderly with chronic diseases causes high costs burden. However, there is few studies researching the financial burden of chronic illness of the elderly. This study aimed to 1) understand how much the elderly with chronic diseases pay for medical expenses; 2) find out some specific factors related to health care financial burden; 3) suggest the alternative policies to decrease excessive financial burden of caring for the elderly with chronic illness. National Health and Nutrition Survey, which was surveyed by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in 1998, was used in this study. 4,707 persons with chronic diseases out of 5385 persons over age 60 were selectively sampled. Using SPSSWIN, correlation analysis, T-test, ANOVA and Regression were used as statistical methods in this study. Stepwise multiple regression was employed to analyze the data with a ratio of health care expenditure to income(financial burden) as a dependent variable. Out of Korean old people, 87% had the chronic diseases and their health care financial burden rate showed the average of 17.9%, which meaned they expended almost 20% income to buy medical services. The variables having a great influence on financial burden were monthly income, activity, limitation and single household of an old person. The excessive financial burden was experienced by people who had more than 4 activity limitations(37.1%) and were in the lowest Income level(32.6%), and single household of an old person(31.4%). The new policies should be considered to 1) reduce the financial burden in these groups and to develop the sliced medical cost system considering the characteristics of chronic illness and income level; and 2) develop the medical management system to care for the elderly with chronic illness.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.291-300
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• 2012

Objectives: 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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). Conclusions: 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.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.251-260
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• 2009

Objectives : To estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of stroke in Korea in 2005 from a societal perspective. Methods : We identified those 20 years or older who had at least one national health insurance (NHI) claims record with a primary or a secondary diagnosis of stroke (ICD-10 codes: I60-I69, G45) in 2005. Direct medical costs of the stroke were measured from the NHI claims records. Direct non-medical costs were estimated as transportation costs incurred when visiting the hospitals. Indirect costs were defined as patients and caregivers productivity loss associated with office visits or hospitalization. Also, the costs of productivity loss due to premature death from stroke were calculated. Results : A total of 882,143 stroke patients were identified with prevalence for treatment of stroke at 2.44%. The total cost for the treatment of stroke in the nation was estimated to be 3,737 billion Korean won (KRW) which included direct costs at 1,130 billion KRW and indirect costs at 2,606 billion KRW. The per-capita cost of stroke was 3 million KRW for men and 2 million KRW for women. The total national spending for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke was 1,323 billion KRW and 1,553 billion KRW, respectively, which together consisted of 77.0% of the total cost for stroke. Costs per patient for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke were estimated at 6 million KRW and 2 million KRW, respectively. Conclusions : Stroke is a leading public health problem in Korea in terms of the economic burden. The indirect costs were identified as the largest component of the overall cost.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.169-176
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• 2015

This review has focused on important but less visible aspects of fibromyalgia (FM) with respect to the high impact of this disorder on patients and societies. FM is a common but challengeable illness. It is characterized by chronic widespread pain, which can be accompanied by other symptoms including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, anxiety and depressive episodes. While our understanding of this debilitating disorder is limited, diagnosis and treatment of this condition is very difficult, even in the hands of experts. Due to the nature of disease, where patients experience invalidation by medical services, their families and societies regarding the recognition and management of disease, direct, indirect and immeasurable costs are considerable. These clinical and economic costs are comparable with other common diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis, but the latter usually receives much more attention from healthcare and non-healthcare resources. Present alarming data shows the grave and "iceberg-like" burden of FM despite the benign appearance of this disorder and highlights the urgent need both for greater awareness of the disease among medical services and societies, as well as for more research focused on easily used diagnostic methods and target specific treatment.