Current Status of Diabetic End-Stage Renal Disease Using Korean Health Insurance Database

- Abstract - Background: Diabetes is becoming one of the main causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide. We studied the prevalence and incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the Korean population based on health insurance claims submitted to the Health Insurance Review Agency. We also investigated the proportion of medications taken by the ESRD patients, and frequency of hospital admission or visits, and medical expenses between ESRD patients with and without diabetes. Methods: This study was based on health insurance claims submitted to the Health Insurance Review Agency during the period from January 2001 through December 2003. Using the disease-classification codes on the health insurance claim forms, those who were diagnosed with chronic renal disease (N18 or N19) and received dialysis-related treatment (Z49), treatment with a kidney dialysis machine (Z99.2), or kidney transplantation (Z94.0) were defined as ESRD patients. Among the ESRD patients, those who were diagnosed with diabetes (E10-E14) and/or took anti-diabetic drugs were defined as ESRD patients with diabetes.