J Korean Med Sci.  2017 Feb;32(2):357-364. 10.3346/jkms.2017.32.2.357.

National Trends in Surgery for Rotator Cuff Disease in Korea

• Jo YH
• Lee KH
• Kim SJ
• Kim J
• Lee BG

• KMID: 2364183
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.2.357

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the national trends in rotator cuff surgery in Korea and analyze hospital type-specific trends. We analyzed a nationwide database acquired from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) from 2007 to 2015. International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) codes, procedure codes, and arthroscopic device code were used to identify patients who underwent surgical treatment for rotator cuff disease. A total of 383,719 cases of rotator cuff surgeries were performed from 2007 to 2015. The mean annual percentage change in the age-adjusted rate of rotator cuff surgery per population of 100,000 persons rapidly increased from 2007 to 2012 (53.3%, P < 0.001), while that between 2012 to 2015 remained steady (2.3%, P = 0.34). The proportion of arthroscopic surgery among all rotator cuff surgeries steadily rose from 89.9% in 2007 to 96.8% in 2015 (P < 0.001). In terms of hospital types, the rate of rotator cuff surgery increased to the greatest degree in hospitals with 30-100 inpatient beds, and isolated acromioplasty procedure accounted for a larger proportion of the rotator cuff surgeries in small hospitals and clinics compared to large hospitals. Overall, our findings indicate that cases of rotator cuff surgery have increased rapidly recently in Korea, of which arthroscopic surgeries account for the greatest proportion. While rotator cuff surgery is a popular procedure that is commonly performed even in small hospitals, there was a difference in the component ratio of the procedure code in accordance with hospital type.

Keyword

Rotator Cuff; Surgery; Trends; Epidemiology

MeSH Terms

Arthroscopy
Epidemiology
Humans
Inpatients
Insurance, Health
International Classification of Diseases
Korea*
Rotator Cuff*

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Age-adjusted and sex-specific rates per 100,000 persons of surgery for rotator cuff diseases and the correlation between the total cost of rotator cuff surgeries and the GDP. (A) Age-adjusted rates of the total population. (B) Sex-specific age-adjusted rates. (C) Total cost of rotator cuff surgeries and GDP in Korea. APC = annual percentage change, GDP = gross domestic product. *P < 0.05.

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  Fig. 2 (A) Total number of cases by age group from 2007 to 2015. (B) Incidence of surgeries for rotator cuff diseases for every 100,000 persons in that age group.

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  Fig. 3 Total number of surgeries for rotator cuff disease according to hospital type from 2007 to 2015.

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  Fig. 4 The number of health care institutions where surgical treatments for rotator cuff disease were performed at least once a year from 2007 to 2015.

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  Fig. 5 The mean annual number of procedures according to hospital type from 2007 to 2015.

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  Fig. 6 Proportions of procedures in patients who underwent surgical treatment for rotator cuff disease stratified by hospital type. RCR = rotator cuff repair.

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