Abstract
This study aimed to analyze current trends in healthcare utilization and medication usage in patients with insomnia. We reviewed the National Patient Sample data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service to determine healthcare utilization in patients diagnosed with insomnia (International Classification of Diseases-10 codes G470, F510) between January 2010 and December 2016. There were 87,470 patients enrolled in this study who utilized healthcare services at least once during the 7-year period. Healthcare utilization trends, Korean and Western medicine (KM and WM, respectively) therapies utilized, comorbidities, and socioeconomic data were analyzed. The number of patients seeking WM or KM care for insomnia increased annually. Adults aged ≥45 years accounted for 73% of the cohort, and there were more female than male patients. KM treatment including acupuncture was the most common in KM (65.29%), while examination was the most common WM treatments (49.31%). In pharmacological therapy, sedatives and hypnotics were the most common (41.08%), followed by antianxiety (19.50%), digestive system and metabolism-related drugs (7.77%). The most common comorbidities were mental health disorders (50.56%) in WM but musculoskeletal disorders in KM (35.67%). Code G470 was used more frequently than code F510, and the difference was more evident in KM than in WM. The findings will provide valuable information for both clinicians and researchers.
Highlights
Insomnia is defined as the persistence of symptoms such as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep or early-morning waking at least three times a week for ≥3 months [1]
This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of insomnia patients, available Western medicine (WM) and Korean medicine (KM) services, utilization of these services, medical costs, and comorbidities and analyze their trends using the 2010 to 2016 Health Insurance Review and Assessment (HIRA) claims data
Our analysis of the frequency of insomnia codes F510 and G470 revealed that code G470 was more frequently used than code F510 during the study period, and the difference was more evident in KM than in WM
Summary
Insomnia is defined as the persistence of symptoms such as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep or early-morning waking at least three times a week for ≥3 months [1]. A study in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) reported an acute insomnia prevalence of 9.5% and 7.9%, respectively, with an annual incidence of 31.2–36.6% [2]. A study in Korea reported that one in five adults develops insomnia [3]. The prevalence of insomnia increases with age; approximately 50% of older adults have difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep [4]. The prevalence of insomnia according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders-2 (ICSD-2) criteria was 32.7% among Korean older adults [5]
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