The Economic Effect of Early Management in Patients with Early Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Results from a Population-Based Nationwide Survey

PURPOSE: The economic effect of regular follow-up and early management in patients with early chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not yet been clarified. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the economic effect of regular follow-up and early management in these patients. METHODS: Patients with early COPD were identified from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We analyzed medical utilization and cost for 2 years without any missing data by using the Korean National Health Insurance data. Patients with routine healthcare maintenance were defined as, after diagnosis, those with regular visits to the hospital and receiving early management of COPD. RESULTS: Among 1204 patients with early COPD, the patients who were classified as the group with routine healthcare maintenance (69/146; 47.3%) and the group with intermittent healthcare user (79/1058; 7.5%) visited to hospital for the next 2 years. The patients with routine healthcare maintenance had lower cost of inpatient service and frequencies of emergency room (ER) visit and intensive care unit (ICU) admission than intermittent healthcare users (cost of inpatient service, $4595 vs. $4953 per person; ER visit, 7.2 vs. 11.5; ICU admission, 4.3 vs. 7.7). Even in patients with COPD and FEV1 ≥ 80, early intervention through follow-up reduced the cost of inpatient service because these patients could have had less severe acute exacerbations than intermittent healthcare users. CONCLUSION: Patients with early COPD, even those with FEV1 ≥ 80, need regular follow-up for early management and disease control as well as for reducing the socioeconomic burden of the disease.