Economic burden of acute pesticide poisoning in South Korea

Abstract

Abstractobjectives To investigate the magnitude and characteristics of the economic burden resulting from acute pesticide poisoning (APP) in South Korea.methods The total costs of APP from a societal perspective were estimated by summing the direct medical and non-medical costs together with the indirect costs. Direct medical costs for patients assigned a disease code of pesticide poisoning were extracted from the Korean National Health Insurance Reimbursement Data. Direct non-medical costs were estimated using the average transportation and caregiving costs from the Korea Health Panel Survey. Indirect costs, incurred by pre-mature deaths and work loss, were obtained using 2009 Life Tables for Korea and other relevant literature.results In 2009, a total of 11 453 patients were treated for APP and 1311 died, corresponding to an incidence of 23.1 per 100 000 population and a mortality rate of 2.6 per 100 000 population in South Korea. The total costs of APP were estimated at approximately US$ 150 million, 0.3% of the costs of total diseases. Costs due to pre-mature mortality accounted for 90.6% of the total costs, whereas the contribution of direct medical costs was relatively small.conclusion Costs from APP demonstrate a unique characteristic of a large proportion of the indirect costs originating from pre-mature mortality. This finding suggests policy implications for restrictions on lethal pesticides and safe storage to reduce fatality and cost due to APP.

Undereporting of acute pesticide poisoning in Tanzania: modelling results from two cross-sectional studies

“…A study conducted in South Korea reports total economic cost of APP equivalent to US$ 150,000,000 which was 0.3% of the cost of total disease [38]. Though not modeled for under-reporting in this study, a recent Tanzanian study [18] reported that mortality from APP in Tanzania was 2.2 cases per 1,000,000.…”

Acute pesticide poisoning amongst adolescent girls and women in northern Tanzania

“…This difference could result from the existence of better surveillance systems in Sri Lanka and California compared to Tanzania. For example, the study by Pearson and colleagues, which demonstrated how close collaboration between stakeholders in Sri Lanka made use of surveillance data to implement effective policies to prevent pesticide poisoning, confirms the presence of a robust surveillance system for APP in that country [61]. Absence of information on the poisoning agent was associated with younger age in that adolescent girls were more likely to be involved in an APP where the agent was unknown (PRR Adolescent girls/ Adult women = 1.9, 95% CI =0.9-3.9).…”

Acute Pesticide Poisoning amongst adolescent girls and women in Northern Tanzania

“…Population-based APP incidence rates in this study (5.1/100,000) were far lower than reported in Nepalese females aged 15 to 50+ years (77.5/100,000) 47 and South Korean females aged 0 to 65+ years (27.4/100,000). 62 This could be explained by (a) poorer hygiene resulting in unsafe pesticide handling practices in Nepal or (b) under-reporting due to the lack of a surveillance system in Tanzania. For the Korean study, there were also age differences in the study population including children aged 1 to 10.…”