Prevalence and lifetime healthcare cost of cerebral palsy in South Korea.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the prevalence of cerebral palsy (CP) in South Korea, and the attributable lifetime medical cost according to physiological types and extent of involvement.


METHODS
The number of medical service use and medical cost of CP were obtained from the national health insurance review and assessment (HIRA) service. The prevalence was calculated from the number of five-year-old patients who used medical services between 2004 and 2008. The lifetime medical cost of CP was calculated from the data and discount rate of 3%.


RESULTS
The prevalence of CP in South Korea was 2.6 per 1000 children. The attributable lifetime medical cost of CP in South Korea was calculated to be 26,383 US dollars, which is 1.8 times the basic lifetime medical cost of the general population (14,579 US dollars). Spastic CP showed the highest attributable medical cost, followed by dyskinetic and ataxic CP. Spastic diplegia showed 1.4 times of the attributable lifetime medical cost of spastic hemiplegia.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of CP in South Korea is comparable to that in other countries. CP is a disease with wide range of clinical features, and the medical cost according to the physiological types and extent of involvement should be considered.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Sungnam, Kyungki 463-707, Republic of Korea.
Moon Seok
MS
Park
Se Jin
SJ
Kim
Chin Youb
CY
Chung
Dae Gyu
DG
Kwon
In Ho
IH
Choi
Kyoung Min
KM
Lee
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000639:trends*; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult