Graduate School of Healthcare Management and Policy, Department of Humanities and Social Medicine, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Tohoku J Exp Med. 2012 Jan;226(1):85-93. doi: 10.1620/tjem.226.85.
The number of symptomatic hepatitis A cases has progressively been increasing during the last several years in Korea. Available cost estimates indicate a growing burden to the public. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of treatment costs for patients with hepatitis A and to analyze the influential factors with nationwide data. We collected data on 72,921 patients with hepatitis A from 5-year National Health Insurance claim archives between 2004 and 2008. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine influential factors affecting treatment costs for hepatitis A. Total treatment costs for patients with hepatitis A during the 5-year period were US$47,902,087 and increased significantly each year. In total, 91.4% of treatment costs were used for hospitalization, and the proportion of inpatients increased gradually throughout the study period. The most influential factor on treatment costs was treatment duration. Our results show that the soaring number of patients with hepatitis A followed by the hospitalization-focused treatment practice is a major factor associated with the rapid increase in treatment costs. Appropriate policies should be promptly developed to control treatment costs and economic burden of hepatitis A infections.
近年来，韩国有症状的甲型肝炎病例数量逐渐增加。现有的成本估算表明，这给公众带来了越来越大的负担。本研究旨在确定甲型肝炎患者治疗费用的程度，并利用全国性数据分析影响因素。我们从 2004 年至 2008 年的 5 年国家健康保险索赔档案中收集了 72921 名甲型肝炎患者的数据。采用多元回归分析方法，研究影响甲型肝炎治疗费用的因素。甲型肝炎患者在 5 年期间的总治疗费用为 4790.2087 万美元，且逐年显著增加。住院治疗费用占总治疗费用的 91.4%，住院患者的比例在整个研究期间逐渐增加。对治疗费用影响最大的因素是治疗时间。我们的研究结果表明，甲型肝炎患者数量的急剧增加以及以住院治疗为重点的治疗实践是导致治疗费用迅速增加的主要因素。应及时制定适当的政策来控制治疗费用和甲型肝炎感染的经济负担。
