Researchers from National Cancer Control Institute Report New Studies and Findings in the Area of Cancer (Cancer Care Patterns In South Korea: Types of Hospital Where Patients Receive Care and Outcomes Using National Health Insurance Claims Data): Cancer

2023 JUN 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Research findings on Cancer are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating in Goyang, South Korea, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Although strengthening coverage has improved cancer care, there are concerns related to medical distortion. Previous studies have only examined whether patients visit a specific hospital, and not the continuum of patients with cancer, resulting in a lack of evidence in South Korea.”

Funders for this research include National Cancer Center, Soonchunhyang University Research Fund, National Research Council for Economics, Humanities & Social Sciences, Republic of Korea.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from National Cancer Control Institute, “This study aimed to investigate the patterns in hospital type for cancer care and analyze their association with outcomes. The data for this study were obtained from the National Health Insurance Services Sampled Cohort database. This study included patients with four types of cancer (top four cancer incidence in 2020): gastric (3353), colorectal (2915), lung (1351), and thyroid (5158) cancer. The latent class mixed model was used to investigate cancer care patterns, and multiple regression or survival analysis was performed to examine medical cost, length of stay (LOS), and mortality. The patterns in each cancer type were classified into two to four classes, namely, mainly visited clinics or hospitals, mainly visited general hospitals, mainly visited tertiary hospitals (MT), and tertiary to general hospitals through trajectory modeling based on the utilization of cancer care. Compared to the MT pattern, other patterns were generally associated with higher cost, LOS, and mortality. The patterns found in this study may be a more realistic way of defining patients with cancer in South Korea compared to previous studies, and its association-related outcomes may be used as a basis to address problems in the healthcare system and prepare alternatives for patients with cancer.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Future studies should review cancer care patterns related to other factors such as regional distribution.”

For more information on this research see: Cancer Care Patterns In South Korea: Types of Hospital Where Patients Receive Care and Outcomes Using National Health Insurance Claims Data. Cancer Medicine, 2023. Cancer Medicine can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Cancer Medicine - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2045-7634)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Kyu-Tae Han, National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Div Canc Control & Policy, Goyang, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Dong-Woo Choi, Sun Jung Kim, Seungju Kim, Dong Wook Kim and Wonjeong Jeong.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.6093. 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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