Korean J Pain.  2017 Apr;30(2):142-150. 10.3344/kjp.2017.30.2.142.

Prevalence and trends of pain associated with chronic diseases and personal out-of-pocket medical expenditures in Korea

• Shin SM

• KMID: 2376050
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3344/kjp.2017.30.2.142

Abstract

BACKGROUND
There have been few studies about pain using a big data. The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of pain, and trends of pain associated with chronic diseases and personal out-of-pocket medical expenditures over time.
METHODS
Subjects were 58,151 individuals, using the Korea Health Panel from 2009 to 2013. Chi-square and multinomial logistic regression were conducted to identify the prevalence and odds ratios (ORs) of pain. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to find the trend over these 5 years.
RESULTS
Prevalence of mild and severe pain was 28.1% and 1.7% respectively. The ORs of mild and severe pain were 1.6 and 1.4 in females compared with males. From 2009 to 2013, numbers of chronic diseases producing mild pain were 2.1, 2.4, 2.8, 2.9, and 3.1 and those producing severe pain were 3.0, 3.4, 3.9, 4.2, and 4.4, respectively. After applying the average South Korean inflation rate by year over 5 years, the annual, personal out-of-pocket medical expenditures (unit: ￦1,000) for mild pain were 322, 349, 379, 420, and 461, and those for severe pain were 331, 399, 504, 546, and 569, respectively (P < 0.0001).
CONCLUSIONS
The pain prevalence was 29.8%. The numbers of chronic diseases and the personal out-of-pocket medical expenditures revealed increasing trends annually, especially in those with pain. Therefore, to eliminate and alleviate the pain, there needs to be further study for developing a systemic approach.

Keyword

Chronic disease; Out-of-pocket; Pain; Personal expenditure; Prevalence

MeSH Terms

Chronic Disease*
Female
Financing, Personal
Health Expenditures*
Humans
Inflation, Economic
Korea*
Logistic Models
Male
Odds Ratio
Prevalence*

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