title: The socioeconomic burden of coronary heart disease in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to estimate the annual socioeconomic burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Korea in 2005, using the National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prevalence-based, top-down, cost-of-treatment method was used to assess the direct and indirect costs of CHD (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes of I20-I25), angina pectoris (I20), and myocardial infarction (MI, I21-I23) from a societal perspective.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Estimated national spending on CHD in 2005 was $2.52 billion. The majority of the spending was attributable to medical costs (53.3%), followed by productivity loss due to morbidity and premature death (33.6%), transportation (8.1%), and informal caregiver costs (4.9%). While medical cost was the predominant cost attribute in treating angina (74.3% of the total cost), premature death was the largest cost attribute for patients with MI (66.9%). Annual per-capita cost of treating MI, excluding premature death cost, was $3183, which is about 2 times higher than the cost for angina ($1556).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The total insurance-covered medical cost ($1.13 billion) of CHD accounted for approximately 6.02% of the total annual NHI expenditure. These findings suggest that the current burden of CHD on society is tremendous and that more effective prevention strategies are required in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hoo-Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Han-Joong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chung-Mo
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Seung-Ji
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Young-Hwa
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Sera
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hye-Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Angina; Coronary disease; Cost of illness; Insurance claim; Myocardial infarction