The economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from 2004 to 2013

Figures & data

Figure 1. Process of extracting COPD data from the national health insurance database. ICD, International Classification of Disease.

Figure 2. Trends in patients and societal cost of COPD for 10 years.

Table 1. Epidemiology of COPD in South Korea from 2004–2013.

	2004	2009	2013
Total number of patients with COPD	1,067,199	1,305,540	1,419,914
% of population in South Korea	2.2	2.6	2.8
Gender
Male	546,794 (51.2%)	669,893 (51.3%)	724,990 (51.1%)
Female	520,405 (48.8%)	635,647 (48.7%)	694,924 (48.9%)
Age
<40 years	264,130 (24.7%)	275,902 (21.1%)	319,717 (22.5%)
40–49 years	139,426 (13.1%)	141,919 (10.9%)	172,993 (12.2%)
50–59 years	155,177 (14.5%)	199,788 (15.3%)	217,010 (15.3%)
60–69 years	246,598 (23.1%)	287,970 (22.1%)	318,298 (22.4%)
70–79 years	194,810 (18.3%)	290,257 (22.2%)	288,479 (20.3%)
≥80 years	67,058 (6.3%)	109,704 (8.4%)	103,417 (7.3%)
% of over 60 years	47.6	52.7	50.0
Total number of deaths from COPD	5250	4964	5079
Mortality (per 100,000)	10.8	10.0	10.1
% of deaths from respiratory diseases	37.0	29.2	22.6
Gender
Male	3575 (68.1%)	3371 (67.9%)	3412 (67.2%)
Female	1675 (31.9%)	1593 (32.1%)	1667 (32.8%)
Age
<65 years	646 (12.3%)	547 (11.0%)	458 (9.0%)
≥65 years	4604 (87.7%)	4417 (89.0%)	4621 (91.0%)

Table 2. Distribution of healthcare utilization by group in South Korea.

	2004	2009	2013
Total days of hospital visits	2,900,830	3,652,333	3,856,059
Average days of hospital visits per capita	2.72	2.80	2.72
Type
Inpatients	372,480	539,237	569,316
Outpatients	2,528,350	3,113,096	3,286,744
Outpatients/Inpatients	6.8	5.8	5.8
Gender (days of hospital visits per capita)
Male	1,549,528 (2.83)	1,929,283 (2.88)	2,036,898 (2.81)
Female	1,351,302 (2.60)	1,723,050 (2.71)	1,819,161 (2.62)
Age (days of hospital visits per capita)
<65 years	987,515 (1.77)	1,113,080.0 (1.80)	1,175,167 (1.66)
≥65 years	1,913,315 (3.76)	2,539,253.0 (3.69)	2,680,892 (3.77)

Table 3. Societal cost of COPD in South Korea from 2004–2013.

	2004	2009	2013
Total societal cost ($ million)	238.0 (100.0%)	380.7 (100.0%)	439.9 (100.0%)
Societal cost per capita ($)	223.0	291.6	309.8
Direct cost ($ million)	140.2 (58.9%)	232.2 (61.0%)	257.7 (58.6%)
Medical cost	117.1 (49.2%)	194 (51.0%)	214.3 (48.7%)
Inpatient	45.7 (19.2%)	76.6 (20.1%)	96.3 (21.9%)
% of Tertiary hospitals	15.9	15.4	12.1
% of General hospitals	53.5	48.6	45.9
% of Hospitals	25.7	26.8	27.5
% of Long-term care hospitals	1.3	7.1	12.9
% of Clinics	3.6	2.1	1.5
Outpatient	44.2 (18.6%)	72.9 (19.1%)	76.4 (17.4%)
% of Tertiary hospitals	9.7	13.3	11.8
% of General hospitals	21.5	25.0	27.4
% of Hospitals	8.6	8.3	8.2
% of Long-term care hospitals	0.1	0.4	1.1
% of Clinics	60.0	53.0	51.6
Pharmaceutical	27.2 (11.4%)	44.5 (11.7%)	41.6 (9.4%)
Non-medical cost	23.1 (9.7%)	38.2 (10.0%)	43.5 (9.9%)
Transportation	19.8 (8.3%)	32.2 (8.5%)	36.6 (8.3%)
Caregiving	3.3 (1.4%)	6.0 (1.6%)	6.8 (1.6%)
Indirect cost ($ million)	97.8 (41.1%)	148.5 (39.0%)	182.2 (41.4%)
Productivity loss	83.7 (35.2%)	126.7 (33.3%)	160.9 (36.6%)
Loss from early death	14.1 (5.9%)	21.8 (5.7%)	21.3 (4.8%)

Note: All costs are measured at current prices.