Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Environmental Health, Korea National Open University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Public Health. 2024 Nov 13;12:1394378. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1394378. eCollection 2024.
The World Health Organization recommends at least 150 min of physical activity per week for persons with and without disabilities. This study compared the differences in the economic burden of diseases between persons with and without disabilities based on their physical activity. What is known in the field is that physical activity is beneficial to health, but there is a disparity between persons without disabilities and persons with disabilities, and our research aims to increase physical activity among persons with disabilities.
Economic burden of disease includes service costs such as outpatient, hospitalization, and pharmaceutical expenses for disease treatment, and persons with disabilities are those who have received a disability classification legally registered by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, and there are 15 types of disabilities. For exercise records, we calculated the cost in 2020 for people with exercise records in 2018 so that they can have at least 1 year of exercise records, as health checkups are available from January to December of the year. Physical activity attainment is defined as 150 min or more of physical activity per week based on World Health Organization guidelines.
Calculating the economic burden of disease by physical activity for persons with and without disabilities, both experienced a difference in hospitalization costs owing to fewer hospital days with physical activity achievement, with the difference being greater for persons with disabilities. Regarding disability type, achievers showed a 41.1% difference in total costs for mental class disorders, 16.7% for external bodily function disorders, and 11.1% for internal organ disorders.
Physical inactivity has a significant impact on the economic burden of persons with disabilities compared to persons without disabilities, with 11.8% fewer persons without disabilities who were physically active for 150 min or more per week compared to 21.4% fewer persons with disabilities. In terms of healthcare spending, exercise can help keep persons with disabilities healthy. Therefore, there is a need for exercise programs tailored to persons with disabilities to increase physical activity in line with World Health Organization recommendations to reduce health inequalities between persons with and without disabilities.
世界卫生组织建议残疾人和非残疾人每周至少进行 150 分钟的身体活动。本研究比较了残疾人和非残疾人根据身体活动水平的不同，其疾病经济负担的差异。已知身体活动有益于健康，但残疾人和非残疾人之间存在差异，我们的研究旨在增加残疾人的身体活动量。
疾病经济负担包括门诊、住院和药物治疗等服务费用，残疾人为韩国保健福祉部合法登记的残疾分类人员，共有 15 种残疾类型。对于运动记录，我们计算了 2018 年有运动记录的人在 2020 年的费用，以便他们至少有 1 年的运动记录，因为健康检查可以在每年的 1 月至 12 月进行。身体活动达标定义为每周进行 150 分钟或以上的身体活动，基于世界卫生组织的指南。
计算残疾人和非残疾人的身体活动疾病经济负担，发现身体活动达标者的住院费用因住院天数减少而有所不同，残疾者的差异更大。就残疾类型而言，精神障碍类疾病的总费用差异最大，为 41.1%，其次是外部身体功能障碍类疾病，为 16.7%，内部器官障碍类疾病为 11.1%。
与非残疾人相比，身体活动不足对残疾人的经济负担有重大影响，每周进行 150 分钟或以上身体活动的非残疾人比例比残疾人多 11.8%，而每周进行 150 分钟或以上身体活动的残疾人比例少 21.4%。在医疗保健支出方面，运动可以帮助残疾人保持健康。因此，需要为残疾人量身定制运动计划，以增加身体活动，符合世界卫生组织的建议，减少残疾人和非残疾人之间的健康不平等。
