Health Policy Manag.  2018 Jun;28(2):128-137. 10.4332/KJHPA.2018.28.2.128.

Determinants of Health in Korea: A Comparative Analysis among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Countries

• Park MB
• Moon JY
• Kim JR
• Nam EW

• KMID: 2416650
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4332/KJHPA.2018.28.2.128

Abstract

BACKGROUND
This study aims to utilize Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data to identify macroscopic determinants of health at national level and to utilize it in health policy development through comparison and analysis with Korea.
METHODS
The potential years of life lost (PYLL) were used as dependent variables and 19 indicators were selected as health determinants to be independent variables based on the results of previous studies. Data analysis was done using SAS ver. 9.4 package (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA) and model used in technical statistics concerning PYLL by countries, multi-linearity test between independent variables and OECD economic studies were modified and used.
RESULTS
From 1994 to 2012, the average PYLL for OECD countries was 4,262.9 years, the highest in Estonia and the lowest in Iceland. As a result of the analysis using the fixed effect model, the significant variables affecting PYLL were four variables: gross domestic product, nitric oxide, tobacco consumption, and number of doctors. The health determinants that had more influence on the PYLL of Korean people compared to other OECD countries were tobacco consumption, calorie consumption, fat intake and total health expenditure.
CONCLUSION
In order to effectively reduce unnecessary deaths, we must continue to strengthen our smoking policy and nutrition policies such as calorie and fat intake. It is necessary to prevent the increase of total health expenditure due to the increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases and to strengthen the public health aspect.

Keyword

Determinants of health; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Fixed-effect model; Potential years of life lost

MeSH Terms

Chronic Disease
Estonia
Gross Domestic Product
Health Expenditures
Health Policy
Iceland
Korea*
Nitric Oxide
Nutrition Policy
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development*
Prevalence
Public Health
Smoke
Smoking
Statistics as Topic
Tobacco Use
Nitric Oxide
Smoke