Medical expenditure of national health insurance attributable to smoking among the Korean population.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the population-attributable risk (PAR) and estimate the total medical expenditure of the Korean National Health Insurance (KNHI) due to smoking.


METHODS
We used data from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study of 1,178,138 Koreans aged 30 to 95. These data were available from 1992 to 2003 and covered a long-term follow-up period among the Korean population.


RESULTS
The total medical expenditure of KNHI related to smoking increased by 27% from $324.9 million in 1999 to $413.7 million in 2003. By specific diseases, smoking-attributable KNHI medical expenditure was the highest for lung cancer ($74.2 million), followed by stroke ($65.3 million), COPD ($50.1 million), CHD ($49 million) and stomach cancer ($30 million). A total of 1.3 million KNHI patients were suffering from smoking-related diseases in 2003. We predicted rises in total KNHI medical expenditure related to smoking to $675.1 million (63% increase compared with that of 2003) and in the total number of KNHI patients suffering from smoking-related diseases to about 2.6 million (an approximate 100% increase compared with those in 2003) in 2015.


CONCLUSIONS
We found a substantial economic burden related to the high smoking prevalence in South Korea.
Lee
Sang-Yi
SY
Department of Health Policy and Management, Medical College, Cheju National University, Jeju, Korea.
Jee
Sun Ha
SH
Yun
Ji Eun
JE
Kim
Su-Young
SY
Lee
Jakyung
J
Samet
Jonathan M
JM
Kim
Il Soon
IS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics*; D012306:Risk; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics*