Health care burden and medical resource utilisation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Korea

Despite the clinical importance of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), its epidemiology has been rarely reported. The economic burden from IPF is therefore difficult to predict.To analyse the health care burden and current situation with respect to medical resource utilisation in patients with IPF in Korea.We analysed nationwide data collected between 2009 and 2013 from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment (HIRA) database. Patients with IPF were defined by the K-J84.18 code of the Korean Classification of Disease, 6th revision.The total direct health care costs increased from US$19 805 167 in 2009 to US$31 410 083 in 2013; the principal factor responsible for the highest proportion of costs was hospitalisation. The proportion of the total IPF patient population who were hospitalised at least once a year was 27.2%, and the average length of hospital stay was 12.7 days. From post-hoc analysis, hospital admission, emergency room visit and intensive care unit admission rates showed significant seasonal variations; the admission rates were highest in the spring and lowest in autumn.Health care costs of IPF are increasing annually, with hospital admissions representing the major financial burden.