Researchers at Yonsei University College of Medicine Report New Data on Anisakiasis (Parasitic infections and medical expenses according to Health Insurance Review Assessment claims data in South Korea, 2011-2018)

2020 APR 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Parasitic Diseases and Conditions - Anisakiasis have been published. According to news originating from Seoul, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “In South Korea, Health Insurance Review and Assessment claims data contain comprehensive information on healthcare services for almost the entire population. The present study used claims data on parasitic diseases from 2011 to 2018, and associated medical expenses to investigate infection trends associated with endemic parasitic diseases in South Korea, including those not monitored by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Yonsei University College of Medicine, “Basic data regarding each parasitic disease were curated from the Healthcare Bigdata Hub (http://opendata.hira.or.kr). Ten endemic parasitic diseases, three pandemic protozoan diseases, and three ectoparasitic diseases were evaluated between 2011 and 2018. Data on each parasitic disease included the number of patients of each sex, age range within 5 years, province, and total medical expenses. Heatmap and principal component analysis were performed to visualize the incidence pattern of parasitic diseases by provinces. Clonorchiasis and pinworm infections decreased remarkably from 6,097 and 4,018 infections in 2011 to 3,008 and 1,988 infections in 2018, respectively. Other endemic parasitic diseases mostly declined or remained steady over the 8-year period, except for anisakiasis, which doubled from 409 in 2011 to 818 in 2018. Provinces close to North Korea had a higher frequency of claims for Plasmodium vivax infection. The highest rate of clonorchiasis was in Gyeongsangnam-do, while that of anisakiasis was in southern Korea. Jeju province had the highest number of claims for cysticercosis, anisakiasis, pinworm infection, and soil-transmitted helminth infections. The total medical expense for anisakiasis was 65 million Korean won (57,000 US$) in 2011, rising to 237 million Korean won (206,000 US$) in 2018. The medical expense for trichomoniasis was 6,063 million won and for scabies was 1,669 million won in 2018. Since the claims data include only data reported by healthcare providers, some discrepancies might have occurred.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Our findings provide the basis for a health policy to reduce further infections and medical expense.”

For more information on this research see: Parasitic infections and medical expenses according to Health Insurance Review Assessment claims data in South Korea, 2011-2018. Plos One, 2019;14(11):e0225508. (Public Library of Science - www.plos.org; Plos One - www.plosone.org)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from M.H. Yi, Dept. of Environmental Medical Biology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Arthropods of Medical Importance Resource Bank, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include J.Y. Kim and T.S Yong.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225508. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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