Data on Environmental Research and Public Health Discussed by Researchers at National Health Insurance Service

2021 APR 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New study results on environmental research and public health have been published. According to news reporting from Wonju, South Korea, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “This study aims to calculate the health-adjusted life years (HALE) by using years lived with disability (YLD) from the national claims data, as well as to identify the differences and inequalities in income level and region. The study was carried out on total population receiving health insurance and medical benefits.”

Financial supporters for this research include Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from National Health Insurance Service: “We calculated incidence-based YLD for 260 disease groups, and used it as the number of healthy years lost to calculate HALE. We adopted the insurance premium to calculate the income as a proxy indicator. For the region classification, we chose 250 Korean municipal-level administrative districts. Our results revealed that HALE increased from 2008 to 2018. HALE in males increased faster than that in females. HALE was higher in higher income levels. In 2018, the gap in HALE between Q1 and Q2, the lower income group, was about 5.57 years. The gap in females by income level was smaller than that in males. Moreover, the gap in HALE by region was found to increase.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Results suggest that there is an inequality in YLD in terms of income level in Korea. Therefore, we need intensive management for the low-income group to promote HALE at the national level.”

For more information on this research see: The Gaps in Health-Adjusted Life Years (HALE) by Income and Region in Korea: A National Representative Bigdata Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021,18(3473):3473. (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph). The publisher for International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073473.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Young-Eun Kim, Department of Big Data Strategy, National Health Insurance Service, 32 Geongang-ro, Wonju 26464, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Yoon-Sun Jung, Minsu Ock, Hyesook Park, Ki-Beom Kim, Dun-Sol Go, Seok-Jun Yoon. Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.