title: Disability weights for the korean burden of disease study: focused on comparison with disability weights in the Australian burden of disease study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to measure the disability weights for the Korean Burden of Disease study, and to compare them with those adopted in the Australian study to examine the validity and describe the distinctive features.
  
  
  METHODS
  The standardized valuation protocol was developed from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study and the Dutch Disability Weights study. Disability weights were measured for 123 diseases of the Korean version of Disease Classification by three panels of 10 medical doctors each. Then, overall distribution, correlation coefficients, difference by each disease, and mean of differences by disease group were analyzed for comparison of disability weights between the Korean and Australian studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Korean disability weights ranged from 0.037 to 0.927. While the rank correlation coefficient was moderate to high (rs=0.68), Korean disability weights were higher than the corresponding Australian ones in 79.7% of the 118 diseases. Of these, war, leprosy, and most injuries showed the biggest differences. On the contrary, many infectious and parasitic diseases comprised the greater part of diseases of which Korean disability weights were lower. The mean of the differences was the highest in injuries of GBD disease groups, and in cardiovascular disease, injuries, and malignant neoplasm of the Korean disease category.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Korean disability weights were found to be valid on the basis of overall distribution pattern and correlation, and are expected to be used as basic data for broadening the scope of burden of disease study. However, some distinctive features still remain to be explored in following studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Kyung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Do
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Seok Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Kyu
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Hoon
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Changyup
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Kidong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Ik
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Youngsoo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shin
keywords: Korea; cost of illness; cross-cultural comparison; health status