title: Chronic obstructive lung disease-related health care utilisation in Korean adults with obstructive lung disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The numbers of nationwide epidemiological surveys about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prevalence and prospective cohort studies for health care utilisation are limited. We investigated COPD-related health care utilisation in adults with obstructive lung disease in the second Korean National Health and Nutritional Survey (KNHANES II) in 2001 using Korean national medical insurance claim data.
  
  
  METHODS
  Among people aged >40 years, obstructive lung disease (OLD) is defined according to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease criteria. Data from a total of 1942 subjects were linked with Korean national medical insurance claims data, and we investigated their COPD-related out-patient visits from 2002 to 2005.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 1942 subjects, 256 (13.2%) had airflow obstruction. COPD-related out-patient visits were reported for 8.2% of patients without airway obstruction, 18.1% of those with mild airway obstruction, and 33.9% of those with moderate to very severe airway obstruction. Multivariate analysis revealed that previous COPD diagnosis by a physician (OR 2.54; P = 0.02) and lower socio-economic status (OR 0.45; P = 0.02) were independent predictors of COPD-related out-patient visits in subjects with OLD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Of the subjects with airway obstruction, those with poor financial status utilised COPD-related health care services less frequently, and those previously diagnosed as having COPD by a physician utilised the services more frequently.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Institute of Chest Diseases, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007344:Insurance Claim Reporting; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D013147:Spirometry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires