J Korean Med Sci.  2024 Jul;39(29):e214. 10.3346/jkms.2024.39.e214.

Healthcare Costs due to Dizziness/ Vertigo in Korea: Analyses Using the Public Data of Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service

• Kim HJ
• Lee JR
• Lee H
• Kim JS

• KMID: 2558249
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2024.39.e214

Abstract

Background
Dizziness/vertigo is one of the most common symptoms for which people seek healthcare. However, the healthcare expenditure attributable to dizziness/vertigo in South Korea remains poorly understood. We investigated the healthcare costs due to six major disorders causing dizziness/vertigo using claims data.
Methods
The healthcare costs were evaluated using all the claims data submitted to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from January 1 to December 31, 2022. The six major vestibular disorders included for analysis were benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), psychogenic/persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD), vascular vertigo/dizziness (VVD), vestibular migraine (VM), Meniere’s disease (MD), and vestibular neuritis (VN).
Results
During the 1-year study period, 4.1% of adults aged 20 or older visited hospitals due to dizziness/vertigo in South Korea. Compared to the general population, the patients with dizziness/vertigo were more often elderly, female, and residents of small towns. The total healthcare cost for the six major vestibular disorders was ₩547.8 billion (approximately $406.5 million). BPPV incurred the highest annual healthcare cost (₩183.5 billion, 33.5%), followed by VVD (₩158.8 billion, 29.0%), MD (₩82.2 billion, 15.0%), psychogenic/PPPD (₩60.3 billion, 11.0%), VN (₩32.9 billion, 6.0%), and VM (₩30.1 billion, 5.5%). The mean healthcare cost per hospital visit due to dizziness/vertigo was ₩96,524 (95% confidence interval, ₩96,194–₩96,855), 30% higher than the average (₩73,948) of the overall healthcare cost per hospital visit over the same period.
Conclusion
Owing to higher healthcare costs for dizziness/vertigo and increased prevalence of dizziness/vertigo in the aged population, healthcare costs due to dizziness/vertigo will increase rapidly in South Korea. Thus, a guideline for cost-effective management of dizziness/ vertigo should be established to reduce the healthcare costs due to these common symptoms.

Keyword

Dizziness; Vertigo; Health Care Economics; Insurance; Healthcare Costs; Health Policy

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Distribution of sex by disease. Likewise dizziness/vertigo overall, the six major diseases causing dizziness/vertigo showed a female predominance (P < 0.001).VM = vestibular migraine, BPPV = benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, PPPD = persistent postural perceptual dizziness, MD = Meniere’s disease, VN = vestibular neuritis, VVD = vascular vertigo/dizziness.

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  Fig. 2 Distribution of age in general population and patients with dizziness/vertigo. The patients with dizziness/vertigo are more likely to be older than the general population.

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  Fig. 3 Heat map of the proportion of patients with dizziness/vertigo relative to the population in 17 regions of South Korea. The proportion of dizzy patients are higher in the rural areas with small towns while it is lower in the large cities and their nearby areas.

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  Fig. 4 Total healthcare costs and mean payments per hospital visit in Korean Won. The disease with the highest total healthcare cost is BPPV, followed by VVD, MD, psychogenic/PPPD, VN, and VM. The average payment per each hospital visits for the six major diseases causing dizziness/vertigo was ₩96,524 (confidence interval, ₩96,194–₩96,855). The disease with the highest healthcare cost per hospital visit is VVD, followed by VN, BPPV, VM, psychogenic/BPPV, and MD.BPPV = benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, VVD = vascular vertigo/dizziness, MD = Meniere’s disease, PPPD = persistent postural perceptual dizziness, VM = vestibular migraine, VN = vestibular neuritis.

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