PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Chieh-Mo Lin
AU  - Tsung-Ming Yang
AU  - Shu-yi Huang
AU  - Yen-Li Chou
AU  - Ying Huang Tsai
TI  - The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Taiwan
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P286
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P286.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P286.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Introduction: The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Taiwan was estimated to be 7.8% for adults aged 40 years and over. The current disease burden of COPD is still not well-understood.Aims: To evaluate the economic burden of COPD and the time trends of cost structure in COPD management and health-care utilization in Taiwan.Methods: Patients aged 40 years and older, who had medical claims with primary diagnoses of COPD (ICD-9-CM code: 491, 492, and 496) from 2004 to 2010, were included from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan. Annual costs of COPD according to the utilization of healthcare resources were analyzed.Results: The annual total costs of COPD declined from €87 million in 2004 to €68 million in 2010 in the administrative claims. Between 2004 and 2010, the annual costs of intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU admission for each COPD patient declined from €65 to €48 and €80 to €69, respectively. Over the same time frame, the annual outpatient costs for each COPD patient increased from €88 to €106. Despite the increase of COPD-related pharmacy costs for each patient (from €22 in 2004 to €36 in 2010), the total pharmacy costs did not change across years. The total COPD-related costs per patient-year was €232 by 2010, and the estimated annual total burden of COPD in Taiwan is around €200 million according to the prevalence of COPD in Taiwan.Conclusions: Over the past years, the hospitalization costs involving ICU and non-ICU admissions for COPD are decreasing in spite of the increase of the COPD-related pharmacy costs. Optimization of use of COPD-related medications may be an important strategy to reduce the hospitalization costs and total COPD burden.