Yonsei University College of Medicine Reports Findings in Kidney Disease (A nationwide population-based study on therapeutic plasma exchange for 10 years in Korea using Health Insurance Review and Assessment database)

2021 SEP 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Kidney Diseases and Conditions - Kidney Disease is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Seoul, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Indications for therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) have expanded over the years, and the number of procedures is expected to have been increased. Apheresis registries can be difficult to sustain due to workload and privacy issues.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the Yonsei University College of Medicine, “This study aimed to analyze national claims data to characterize the use of TPE. Patients who underwent TPE were retrospectively identified between January 2008 and December 2017 from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. Data of patients’ characteristics, primary diagnosis, hospitalization, treatment, and procedures were analyzed. A total of 9944 patients underwent 62 606 TPE procedures. The median number of TPE procedures performed per patient was 5 (interquartile range, 3-7). Fresh frozen plasma (71.4%) was most commonly used as the replacement fluid. The most common indication was renal diseases (36.8%), followed by hepato-biliary (17.6%) and hematological (15.2%) diseases. Increased frequency of renal diseases was the most remarkable change, which increased from 529 (21.2%) procedures in 2008 to 4107 (44.5%) procedures in 2017, reflecting the widespread implementation of ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation. The top five hospitals conducted 59.6% of the procedures, which showed a centralized distribution. The most common indication was renal diseases. The number of TPE procedures performed annually increased by approximately 3.7 times from 2008 to 2017. This study shows that other than a registry, claims data can be successfully used to analyze various aspects of TPE procedures on a nationwide scale.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This approach could be used by other countries, especially those that have national health insurance.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: A nationwide population-based study on therapeutic plasma exchange for 10 years in Korea using Health Insurance Review and Assessment database. Journal of Clinical Apheresis, 2021. Journal of Clinical Apheresis can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Journal of Clinical Apheresis - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1098-1101)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Hyung Woo Kim, Dept. of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Jae Hyeon Park, Hee-Jung Chung and Hyungsuk Kim.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/jca.21935. 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.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Clinical Apheresis is: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)