Incidence and prevalence of immune thrombocytopenia under the copayment waiver policy for pediatric patients in Korea: Data from the National Health Claims Database

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) under the copayment waiver policy for pediatric patients in Korea. The data were collected from the National Health Insurance Claims Database of Korea. ITP was identified based on the diagnostic code D69.38 from the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases. Patients between one and 18 years old, who had at least one health insurance claim for ITP as a final diagnosis, from 1 January 2016, to 31 December 2017, were analyzed. Prevalent cases were defined as patients who used, at least one time, any medical services coded as D69.38. Incident cases were defined as patients who did not use D69.38 coded medical services during the prior year and were newly registered in 2017. The prevalence and incidence of ITP were 24.53 and 13.39 per 100,000 persons. The peak rates were observed in 1-year-old patients. The gender-specific prevalence of ITP was significantly higher in one-year-old males than females. According to the change–point analysis, we found that the prevalence and incidence diminished rapidly at the ages of four and three, respectively. This Korean population-based epidemiological study of ITP provided meaningful insights into the current epidemiology of ITP and demonstrated the implications of interpreting epidemiologic studies to reflect age categorizing and health care system characteristics.

Changes in the Incidence of Immune Thrombocytopenia in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Era: A Nationwide Observational Study in Korea

“…The incidence of ITP varies according to factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, geographic regions of data collection, criteria for patient identification, and study design. 1,6,[22][23][24] In a recent study conducted in Korea, it was observed that the incidence of ITP was higher among children than among adults, with a peak among children under 5 years of age and a predominance among boys. 22 In our study, a similar trend in sex distribution in the age groups was identified.…”

Management of immune thrombocytopenia: 2022 update of Korean experts recommendations

“…The incidence of ITP in Western countries is 2–5 per 100,000 person-years [ 1 - 5 ]. In national studies using the Korea Health Insurance Research and Assessment (HIRA) database, the incidence rate of ITP for all ages is 5.3 per 100,000 person-years, while it is 13.39 and 18.1 per 100,000 person-years for children aged <18 years [ 6 - 8 ]. ITP can be an isolated primary event or secondary to other clinical conditions.…”