The Present State of Diabetes Mellitus in Korea

Sin Gon Kim; Dong Seop Choi

doi:10.5124/jkma.2008.51.9.791

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 51(9); 2008 > Article

Kim and Choi: The Present State of Diabetes Mellitus in Korea

Focused Issue of This Month

Prevention and management of the Rapidly Increasing Diabetes Mellitus in Korea

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2008; 51(9): 791-798.

Published online: September 30, 2008

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2008.51.9.791

The Present State of Diabetes Mellitus in Korea

Sin Gon Kim, MD, Dong Seop Choi, MD

Department of Internal Medicine, Korea Univerisity College of Medicine, Korea. k50367@korea.ac.kr, cdongs@kmuc.or.kr

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus has approached to us as a social epidemic in Korea. The prevalence of diabetes in Korea has increased five to six-fold from 1.5% to 7~9% during the past 30 years. This increasing rate is remarkably high in comparison with those of developed countries such as the USA-doubled during the past 30 years. In addition, diabetic complication is very common in Korean diabetic patients. For example, a total of 70.5% among new patients who were started with renal replacement therapy had diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, diabetes-related mortality has rapidly increased over the last 20 years. The age-sex adjusted mortality rate of diabetic patients was about three-fold higher than those of general population. As a result, medical cost of diabetes mellitus covered by the national health insurance corporation was 3.2 trillion won and accounted for 19.2% of all medical costs. On the other hand, the rate of awareness and treatment in diabetic patients has improved from 1998 to 2005. However, the proportion of adequate glycemic control (HbA1c < 7%) among the treated diabetic patients was only 40%. The comprehensive and integrated health intervention including public approach is urgently needed to control the increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its related undesirable outcomes.

Diabetes mellitus; Prevalence; Epidemic; Medical cost; Korea

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Figure 1

Numbers of people with diabetes (in millions) for 2000 and 2010 (top and middle values, respectively), and the percentage increase. Adopted from Ref 9.

Figure 2

The proportion of adequate glycemic control in the United State, European Union and Korea. ¹Koro CE, et al. Diabetes Care 2004; 27:17-20. ²Liebl A. Diabetologia 2002; 45: S23-S28. ³Adopted from Ref 3.

Table 1

Age-adjusted^* prevalence of diabetes^† among Korean men and women from 1998 to 2005 according to KNHNES report

^*Age is adjusted using direct standardization method based on the national census in 1998, 2001 and 2005 from Korea National Statistical Office.

^†Diabetes was defined as a self-reported history of diabetes or fasting plasma glucose > 126mg/dl.

KNHNES=Korean national health and nutrition examination survey.

Adopted from KNHNES report 2005.

Table 2

Diabetes prevalence in Korea according to various surveys

^*Male employees of Korean government organization and school.

UG=urinary glucose. OGTT=oral glucose tolerance test. FBG=fasting blood glucose. PP2hr BG=post-prandial 2hour blood glucose. Hx of DM med=History of diabetic medication. KNHNES=Korean national health and nutrition examination survey.

Table 3

Age-adjusted diabetes-related mortality rates of Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States (1985~2000)

Data shown as death rate per 100,000 persons of each year (fold increase from 1985).

Adopted from ref 12.