Abstract
Temporal trends of the prevalence and incidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) have not been well established in Asian populations. Using the Korean National Health Insurance Services database, we identified patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HCM between 2010 and 2016. The annual prevalence and incidence of HCM, and their clinical characteristics were investigated. The prevalence of HCM has increased from 0.016% (n = 6313) in 2010 to 0.031% (n = 13,035) in 2016. During a 7-year period, 13,229 patients were newly diagnosed with HCM. The incidence rate increased from 4.15 (per 100,000 person-years) in 2010 to 5.6 in 2016. The prevalence and incidence of HCM increased with age and peaked during the 70s, with male predominance in all age groups. Chest pain is the most frequent clinical presentation followed by shortness of breath and syncope. Hypertension and dyslipidemia were the two most common comorbidities. Heart failure and atrial fibrillation was diagnosed in about 1/3 and 1/4 of patients with HCM, respectively. The prevalence and incidence of HCM gradually increased from 2010 to 2016, possibly due to heightened recognition of the disease. Given the progressively high incidence of HCM with age and high prevalence of coexisting modifiable risk factors, continued efforts are required to increase awareness regarding HCM-related symptoms and potential complications.
Highlights
MethodsThis nationwide population-based cohort study used the National Health Insurance Services (NHIS) claims database
The same trend may be anticipated in Asian populations; there are hitherto no available studies reporting the prevalence of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who seek medical attention
Given the estimated prevalence of 1:500 or 0.2% that was carefully investigated by echocardiography-based population screening, it can be presumed that many patients with HCM are still unidentified in the general Korean population, similar to the observation from the U.S and Germany
Summary
This nationwide population-based cohort study used the NHIS claims database. The NHIS is a mandatory universal health insurance service for up to 97% of the entire Korean population, which holds anonymized health-related information, as previously described [8]. The remaining 3% with evidence of low income is covered by the Medical Aid Program, whose information has been incorporated into a single database since 2006. The data currently extracted from the NHIS claims database covers the entire Korean population. The NHIS claims database includes each patient’s demographics, diagnoses, healthcare utilization, and prescription data. Among all those insured by the NHIS, we collected subjects aged 18 years between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2016. As anonymized and unidentified information was applied for the analysis, informed consent was waived
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